Russia
by alliecat8697
Summary: Elliot and Olivia are forced to work a case in Russia..it's a little far-fetched, but I wanted something unique. There will, of course, be some great E/O! R&R plz Story is much better than summary. Warning-there is some language..my first fanfiction:/
1. Going to Russia

**Disclaimer: I don't own a thing**.

**This is my first story so please don't be too hard on me! If you don't like my work, you really don't have to read it. I know this story is very far-fetched, I know, I do, but I wanted to come up with something unique that nobody else would write about. Something different than what we're all used to. I've tried to keep them in character but idk if it worked... once again, if you don't like it, just don't read it. Leave me reviews, please! :)**

"You two are traveling to Russia to help with a case," Cragen announced, looking from Olivia's tired eyes to Elliot's.

Olivia wasn't sure she'd heard right. "_What?_" she blurted, sitting on her desk beside Elliot.

"_Russia?" _Elliot spat, just as shocked as Olivia.

"Yeah. A serial rapist from Staten Island escaped and went to Russia," he explained.

"Why wasn't he in prison if he was a serial rapist?" Olivia asked, her voice high in question.

"He was out on bail, awaiting his trial," Cragen replied.

"Obviously his bail wasn't high enough," Elliot said, turning around and setting some papers down on his desk.

"It was high."

"How much?" Olivia asked.

"500,000," Cragen said.

"What kind of idiot would leave $500,000 and go to _Russia_, of all places?" Olivia demanded.

"One that knew he was going to get convicted," Cragen said.

"Name?" Elliot asked.

"Dr. James Davidson," the captain answered, walking over to the projector and pulling up a picture of him. Olivia and Elliot got up from the desk and walked over to see this guy. He had short hair that had once been black, but was now beginning to be gray. His eyes were a piercing crystal blue, a look that very quickly became intimidating and threatening.

"He's a doctor?" Elliot asked.

"Not actually a medical doctor. He has his doctor's degree."

They were quiet for a minute, staring him over. "So, wait...we're going to Russia to catch this guy?" Olivia asked, still very confused.

"Yeah."

"Why? Yeah, so he's from New York, but that doesn't mean anything...Can't authorities in Russia get him?" Elliot asked.

"They don't know much about him. You guys have a profile on him and know his patterns," Cragen said.

"We can fax that information to Russian authorities," Olivia argued.

Cragen was quiet a minute. "Come to my office," he said, walking to his office behind him.

Olivia glanced up at Elliot, got a confused look from him, and then began walking to Cragen's office with Elliot following close behind.

"What's this about?" Olivia asked, settling in a chair beside Elliot.

Cragen glanced out the window of his office. "Look...if the guy isn't brought back here, he won't be convicted. Russian authorities can't handle it because...rape isn't taken as seriously there," he said quietly, reluctantly.

Olivia began to understand. Elliot did too. Cragen obviously wasn't supposed to be telling this to them, but he could see that they weren't going to go to Russia if he didn't further elaborate.

"You mean if he rapes more in Russia, he won't be prosecuted...?" Olivia asked.

"They won't even look into it," he said. "Russia isn't exactly as serious about sexually based offenses as we are."

"Can't we get him in a Russian prison for what he did here?"

"No. Russian authorities don't care about our cases. Not at all. They don't take this stuff seriously. I need you two to go to Russia and bring him back to the U.S."

"If he won't comply?"

"He will _not_ 'comply'. You're going to put him on a special flight only for prisoners-"

"They really have those?" Olivia interrupted.

"Yeah. But there won't be too many people on it," Cragen answered.

"How many women has he raped in the U.S.?" Elliot asked.

"Fourteen," Cragen replied.

Elliot got a look of exasperation on his face. He was _not_ really in the mood to go to Russia. "Does IAB know about this?"

Cragen again looked out the window. "No..." he said quietly.

"You can't just ship us off to Russia without IAB's permission," Olivia said, "Who's going to fund the trip?"

"It's taken care of," Cragen said, limiting the amount of information reaching them.

"By who? Isn't this a matter of foreign affairs? Or the FBI?" Olivia asked.

Don wanted to tell them that yes, it was a matter of the FBI, and they were the ones paying. But he couldn't bend the rules anymore than he already was. "No," was all he said. The FBI had offered to pay for the trip if they caught the guy, but they weren't willing to send any agents out because it was such a minor case. _"Just a rapist", _they had called it.

Olivia stared at him. "We shouldn't do this, Cap," she said finally.

"Go get your stuff packed, both of you. Pack a variety of things for undercover business. That's an order. You leave tonight," he said, leading them to the door.

This was by far the weirdest situation Olivia had ever encountered. Cragen was getting mad, though. She could tell because he had said, "That's an order." So she decided against arguing anymore. They were going to Russia, and that was that. But leaving tonight? That was short notice. _Very_ short notice for a trip to Russia. But really, Olivia wasn't all that upset about it. They were getting a free vacation to Russia! Yeah, so it wasn't exactly the vacation she'd wanted...she was thinking more along the lines of Bolivia...but she was getting out of the country with her friend, nevertheless, expense-free. Pretty cool, huh? Maybe they could send the guy back when they got him and stay an extra day and relax.

Olivia walked beside Elliot toward the elevator. "What about Kathy?" she asked as she pressed the down button.

Elliot was quiet. He looked to the side and didn't say anything.

"She'll have to understand...he's making us go," Olivia said.

"She won't know," he answered as the elevator doors screeched open and they walked inside.

"You're going to lie to her?"

He chuckled, but it was a bitter, sarcastic chuckle. "Nah. She won't know I'm gone."

"We could be gone for days, though..." Olivia said.

He didn't answer her. He reached into the bag on his shoulder and pulled out a big packet of papers and held them out by her stomach. She took them and began to read. Divorce papers. Again? Poor Elliot...

"She's divorcing you?"

"Yeah," he said as the elevator stopped.

"What? Why?" Olivia asked quietly, obvioulsy very concerned for Elliot.

"She's sick of my job. Sometimes I am too," he said.

Olivia sighed quietly, sad for her partner. She furrowed her eyebrows and handed the papers back to him.

"But at least I've got a good partner," he said, yawning and then grinning.

Olivia chuckled. "Where you staying?" This was how they did things. Even though Olivia wanted to thank him and hug him and tell him things would be okay without Kathy, she couldn't do that because that just wasn't _them_.

"Got an apartment," he replied.

Olivia just nodded as they walked out the door of the precinct and started towards Elliot's car. Olivia climbed into the passenger's seat as Elliot started the ignition.

"Where's your apartment?"

"Close to yours, actually. Upper East Side. About three blocks from yours," he said.

Olivia nodded again. She would have said, "Cool" to just about anybody else, but she didn't say "cool" to Elliot.

Olivia's phone went off. Elliot glanced at her as she flipped open the phone and clicked a button.

"Cragen said to meet him back at the precinct at seven," Olivia said.

"Okay. That gives us a while to pack, I guess," he said, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the clock on his car's radio, which had the characters 3:45 P.M. in a bold, lime-green color.

They were quiet for a minute. "So, I'm guessing it's pretty cold there in February," Olivia said after a while.

"Freezing, no doubt," he agreed.

They reached Olivia's apartment and she climbed out. "See you later," she said.

Elliot waited at her apartment until he saw her light flicker on, and then left.

Hours later, Olivia walked into the precinct with her huge suitcase and duffel bag five minutes early-6:45-, only to find that Cragen and Elliot were already there. Cragen led them to a car outside and began driving them to the airport, Olivia in the backseat, Elliot in the passenger's. On the way, he handed Elliot their flight tickets.

"Now, listen," Cragen said. "Keep your cell phones on you. Call me when you're in Russia."

"Okay," Elliot promised.

"You two may have to do some undercover work. We believe that James may try to involve other people in his rapes-"

"Like...other perverts?" Olivia asked, confused.

"Yes. This guy is a lot more dangerous than we first thought. I was reading up on him, and I saw that two of the women he raped were police women. With guns. So when you find him-if you find him-you may want to be careful. You might want to pretend you're on his side rather than arrest him immediately, because he's powerful. He could have assassins hired; anything. He's unpredictable," Cragen explained.

Elliot couldn't help but feel like Cragen was talking to them like they were CIA agents or something.

"So we're going undercover?" Olivia asked.

Cragen sighed. "Just...do what you have to do to get the guy and get him on the plane. Elliot, I want you to email me when you have him. I will email you tickets for the flight when you have him. I can't just give you flight tickets to come back for whenever because we don't know how long it'll take to get him. If you don't have him in two months, come back."

"_Two months_?" Olivia winced. It could take _two months_ to catch this guy? She was thinking more along the lines of two weeks.

"That's the maximum amount of time you could spend there. You may catch him within a week," Cragen answered.

Olivia was quiet. Things were silent the rest of the way to the airport. When they arrived, they got out of the car and Cragen walked them in. He handed Elliot some money and Olivia some money. They'd both been given six thousand dollars. Geez, whose money was this?

"This is for hotel rooms," he started. "And for food or whatever else you need."

"Thanks," Elliot said, stuffing the money in his back pocket. Olivia did the same.

"Good luck, guys. I better not lose my two best detectives to Russians," he joked, although it really wasn't very funny to Elliot or Olivia. "Call me when you're in Russia. Bye," he said, pivoting and walking away, leaving Elliot and Olivia to just glance around the outside of the airport nervously.

Elliot looked down at the tickets he was holding in his hand. They looked like cops. Definitely. What about their guns? Olivia looked down at her pants, where her gun was resting in its holster.

"El...guns."

"Hm?" he grunted, not looking up from the tickets.

"Will they let us take our guns on the plane?"

He looked up now. "Shit. I wonder if Cragen remembered that. They should let us...I mean, we're cops. I'll call him," he said, pulling out his phone. He dialed Cragen's number.

"Hey. Will they let us take our guns on the planes?" he said into the phone.

"They'll take them up and put them at the front of the planes with the pilot. You can get them back when you land in Russia. At security, just show them your badges. I've already talked to them, so they will know it's okay to let you two in," he said. Cragen's voice always sounded so different through the phone.

"Okay. Thanks. Bye," Elliot said, and hung up. He turned around to see Olivia gazing at him questioningly. He explained the gun predicament, and then they walked into the airport and began to go through security. There was a guard standing beside the detector thing that everybody was walking through. Elliot walked up to him, with Olivia following him. They pulled out their badges and held them up to the guy.

"I'm Detective Stabler, this is my partner Detective Benson. We're going out of the country to work a case. Our boss said he contacted you," Elliot said.

"Yeah," the black guy said, stepping aside. "Y'all go ahead."

Olivia hadn't heard somebody say "Y'all" in a very long time. That guy must have been from the south.

Olivia and Elliot walked through the security line, everybody staring at them enviously because they got to go through without the security frisk. When they had made it through the security, Elliot looked at his watch. "8:00. The plane leaves at 8:30. Let's get somethin' to eat before we go. American Airlines doesn't have good plane food," he said with a chuckle.

Olivia, feeling much more comfortable now that they were in a building and it was just her and her best friend, nodded her head in agreement. They walked into a convenience store and grabbed some snacks. Olivia didn't want Elliot to pay for hers so she pretended to look at some magazines while her partner went to pay.

"Liv, come on," he said, motioning for her to come to the register so _he_ could pay for her items.

"I'm looking at something. Go ahead," she said. He checked out and Olivia decided on a magazine about Russia, since that _was_ where they were going. She walked over to the register with her Sprite, _RUSSIA TODAY_ magazine, and chocolate-covered pretzels. Surprised by how expensive airport snacks were and grateful that Elliot hadn't paid for her stuff, she paid and walked out with her plastic bag.

"I'm going to the restroom," she said to him.

He nodded and said, "Me too."

In the bathroom, Olivia made sure she went so she wouldn't have to go later. Then she touched up on her make-up, washed her hands, and exited. She found Elliot waiting on her. She met up with him and they walked over to the waiting area for their flight. "All 2Bs," a voice shouted through a microphone.

"We're 4B," Elliot informed Olivia.

"Okay." Olivia wanted to say "Okie Dokie!" but didn't because once again, she just didn't act like that around Elliot. Although she was always comfortable around her partner and best friend, she also had to watch what she said. She didn't want to be too revealing or say anything that would make her seem stupid. She tried to maintiain a professional relationship with him, although sometimes she couldn't.

Elliot yawned and rubbed his eyes as the voice on the intercom said, "All 3Bs, boarding now."

Not wanting to sit down with her big suitcases, Olivia shifted her weight to her left side. Finally, after about ten more minutes, the voice on the intercom spoke loudly, "All 4Bs, now boarding. All 4Bs."

Elliot and Olivia were the first 4Bs on the plane. They turned in their guns and then reached their seat, which was just a two-person row, luckily, and put their suitcases up on the shelf above their heads.

**Warning: I'm just getting started, there'll be E/O, it just may be a while. I have to make it at least _somewhat_ realistic! :) please leave me reviews! That will encourage me to continue!**


	2. Airplane

**I'm not all that great at ending my chapters...but you can still expect that the next chapter will be good! :)**

"You want the window seat?" Olivia asked.

"Sure. We can switch in a while," Elliot replied, sitting down in the seat by the window.

Olivia sat down beside him, stuffing her snack bag in the pouch on the back of the seat in front of her. Elliot, seeing her good idea, did the same.

About ten minutes passed and people were still boarding the plane. "It's going to be so cold," Olivia said, a bit of anticipation in her voice, but more dread in it than anything.

"Yeah, no kidding. Let's just hope we can catch this guy soon so we can leave," he replied.

"It won't be _that_ bad. I had a Russian penpal one time. She said that everybody there learns English in school. And I speak some Russian. So it shouldn't be too hard to get around," Olivia said, yawning the last few words. They were both tired from having worked two days straight without sleep. They'd had a case of rape and kidnap of the victim's daughter. They'd finally caught the guy a few hours before Cragen had told them about their little trip to Russia and they had saved the victim's daughter.

"You speak Russian?"

"Yeah. Not a whole lot, but some, yeah," she answered.

"Hm. Didn't know that," he said right as the plane began to move. The plane started out slowly, then increased speed and finally took off. This was Olivia's favorite part. Although it was childish to get excited, she still enjoyed it some. Then they were finally in the air. And they both immediately went to sleep. Olivia passed out first, her head falling onto Elliot's shoulder as she slept. Elliot, smiling at her, fell asleep soon after.

When Olivia woke up, she saw that Elliot was already awake. The plane was dark, with none of the lights on. Most everbody else was still sleeping. Olivia leaned over Elliot and looked out the window and saw nothing but dark fog, and if she looked really hard she could see that they were over the ocean.

"How long you been awake?" she asked very quietly, careful not to disturb other sleeping passengers.

"Quite some time, Sleeping Beauty," he replied, pulling out a Dr. Pepper and taking a swig.

She chuckled. "I haven't been out _that_ long, have I?"

"Yeah, it's been that long. I think I've still got some slobber on my shirt," he joked, looking over at the shoulder of his shirt.

"I don't slobber," she laughed quietly.

"Kidding."

They were quiet for a minute as Olivia pulled out her Sprite, also feeling thirsty. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was happy to have Elliot alone for a while. They spent a lot of time together, but they never really got to talk about anything that didn't have to do with work. They were good friends, of course, but they were always talking about a perp or victim. Never anything else.

"When did you and Kathy split?" she blurted out of the blue. She instantly regretted her question because she thought Elliot might get mad, but it had just kind of come out.

Luckily, Elliot didn't seem to mind the question. She thought he'd be hurting right now, but he seemed completely open to talk about it. "About four months ago we started having problems...we decided to divorce about three months ago."

Olivia nodded and looked away. To Elliot, she seemed a little...upset. Not too badly upset, but she looked like something was wrong. He decided not to ask about it. Really, though, he didn't have to.

"I wish you'd told me," she said quietly, so quietly that she began to think Elliot may not have heard her. She looked away from Elliot, towards the people across from them.

He did kind of feel bad for not telling her. She _was_ his partner and best friend, after all. And every time she had a boyfriend, if she didn't tell him about it, he usually got upset. Why would this be any different? He should have told her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just thought that if I talked about it I'd get upset, and I needed to keep it out of work," he explained.

She nodded.

Was she still upset? He didn't want to pry too much. It wasn't their thing. They didn't usually elaborate on their emotions. But he had to know if she was still mad.

"Are you mad?"

She looked back at him. She smiled lightly and furrowed her brows. "Hm? No, I'm not mad," she said.

He loved her so much sometimes. He smiled back. Olivia twisted her body towards him and layed her head against the seat. They held the smile for a minute until Olivia laughed a little.

"What?" he asked, grinning, amused at her behavior.

She twisted back around and pulled her Sprite out of the pouch. "Nothing," she said, pulling the cap off and taking a drink.

He stared at her. "What?" he demanded, curious at what she was laughing about.

She brought the bottle down from her lips and swallowed. "It's just..." she took one last swallow and put the cap on. "This is the most we've talked in years about something other than work, and we're doing it on the way to Russia to catch a serial rapist." She chuckled, shaking her head as she stuck the Sprite back into the pouch.

Elliot had to think a minute about what to say to that. He sighed. "I miss it," he confessed.

Again Olivia laughed quietly. "Miss what? We never did it in the first place."

He nodded. "We did it more than we do now, though."

"Yeah, I guess," Olivia said.

They were quiet for a minute, and Olivia fell back asleep. This time she wasn't on Elliot's shoulder. Elliot kind of wanted her there. He liked it. As risky as it was, Elliot knew they were good friends, so he figured Olivia wouldn't care if he just...assisted her head onto his shoulder. She wouldn't, right? Nah.

He reached behind her neck and put his hand on her cheek gently, careful not to wake her. He pushed her face toward his shoulder. He realized what he'd done. He'd put his arm around her. He hadn't meant to. Olivia breathed in loudly. He was waking her. Crap! He couldn't remove his arm now, or else he would wake her up. Olivia breathed out and Elliot felt the air on his chest. She wouldn't be mad, right? Just a friendly gesture, no more. He relaxed. This was his friend. Of course she wouldn't mind.

So Elliot put his hand on Olivia's arm and pulled her close. She sighed again, and turned her face in so her nose was on his neck. Elliot fell asleep.

Olivia awoke to see that she was asleep...with a sleeping Elliot's arm around her...? Weird. Very comforting, very enjoyable, very _weird_. She smiled. Had he done that on purpose? _No big deal, Olivia_, she told herself. She yawned and pushed her face off of Elliot's shoulder with her hand. Olivia looked down at Elliot's shirt. She realized that she had gotten a smudge of make-up on it. Damn it. She licked her finger and rubbed the spot of the shirt until it was faded and Elliot wouldn't know what it was. Olivia looked down at her clothes. She was wearing a typical outfit that she wore to work-a red blouse, black pants, black boots, a dressy black jacket, and she had her big black coat behind her in her seat. She glanced at Elliot. He, too, looked like usual. He was wearing a dark blue button-down dress shirt, a black tie, black pants, a black dress jacket, and he also had a big black coat like hers in his seat. They were so alike.

Olivia pulled out her sprite and took a drink as Elliot's eyes fluttered open. His arm was still kind of around her. It just wasn't around her shoulder anymore. She had sat up straight, so now his arm was around her torso. As Elliot realized this, he looked a little embarrassed. But he was too tough to show that for long, of course. He pulled his hand back slowly, running his hand across her back and then finally into his lap.

Olivia laughed. "Who's the sleeper now, huh?"

He laughed and sat up. He immediately reached out to his pouch and pulled out his drink. He took a swig and then put it back down.

Olivia noticed that nobody in the plane had kept their windows up. They'd all pulled the plastic cover over it. It was dark in the plane. Olivia wondered if it was light outside by now. She reached over Elliot, her arm against his chest, and pushed open the window slightly. A slit of bright light stabbed through the window. Now Olivia and Elliot both understood why nobody had their windows open. The ray of light made its way to a guy across from them and woke him up. Olivia didn't care, though. She opened it wider to see what was there, but she didn't see anything but fog, so she closed it back.

"How long have we been on this plane?" she asked, obviously sick of it. She'd gotten plenty of sleep by now. Now she was ready to get out of there.

Elliot looked down at his watch. "It's 5:00. We should land in about thirty minutes. The flight was nine and a half hours," he answered.

Olivia sighed. "Thank God."

"You don't like getting to drool and snore on my shoulder for nine hours?" he asked, grinning and looking down at her.

"I don't drool, and I sure as _hell_ don't snore," she said, dropping her voice on the last four words.

He laughed at her irritation. "Nah. Kidding. You're a beautiful sleeper," he said, pulling out a package of trail mix and munching on a few peanuts.

Olivia, as flattered as she was by the comment, decided to ignore it and get back to professionalism. Or somewhat professionalism. "Where are we staying?"

"His last attack was in Omsk, Siberia, so I guess we're staying somewhere there," he said.

"You read the case file?"

"Yeah, while Cragen and I were waiting for you to get to the precinct."

"I wasn't late."

"I know."

"I thought that he hadn't raped anybody in Russia yet...?" Olivia said.

"Yesterday right after we left work he raped a girl in Omsk," he replied.

"I tought Russian police didn't take rape seriously. How'd she have a case file?" Olivia asked.

"They didn't take her seriously. It pissed her off enough that she went to Kazakhstan to report it. It got back to us because Cragen had already told them about our profile. Kazakhstan authorities said that what happened to the other girls in Staten Island is exactly what happened to Katya."

"Oh. So Omsk it is," Olivia sighed.

"Yeah," he said. He paused for a minute. "Are we staying in separate rooms?"

Olivia chuckled. "No."

Elliot almost looked relieved.

"It'll be cheaper to stay in one room. Not that money's a big problem, but..." Olivia began. "And you're supposed to have my back, remember?" she teased.

"I _always_ have your back," he said, not understanding that she was joking.

"Elliot, I'm just kidding," she assured him, patting his arm as she pulled out her Sprite and drank the last bit.

The plane suddenly turned to its side. Olivia, as surprised by this sudden action as all the passengers that were waking up, fell against Elliot and began choking on her Sprite. It must have gone down the wrong tube or something. Olivia coughed loudly, patting her chest.

"Liv? Liv, you okay?" Elliot asked, also putting one of his hands on her chest and one on her back. He patted her back like he was trying to burp a baby.

"Fine," she choked out. Elliot didn't remove his hands from where they were. Thinking he hadn't heard her, she repeated, "Fine, El," but he still didn't remove his hands. "Lift up that window, will you?" she requested.

Elliot lifted up the window and Olivia looked out into the bright sunlight. She saw whiteness. A snowy ground. A very snowy ground. All she could see was snow. It really _was_ going to be freezing here. She felt the plane beginning to descend. Things became clearer and she saw a few snow-covered buildings. Olivia saw that other than the tons of snow, Siberia looked kind of normal. But not like Manhattan. Not at all like Manhattan.

"It's going to be freezing," Olivia said, sitting back in her seat.

"Did you bring clothes for weather this cold?" Elliot asked.

"Um...I've never been in weather this cold. But I brought a hat, gloves, scarves...what I didn't bring is a parka," Olivia replied.

"Me neither."

"That's because I don't _own_ a parka."

"Me neither," Elliot said. "I brought a hat and gloves..."

"Should we stop at a thrift store or something and get a cheap parka?" Olivia suggested.

"Yeah. We can stop somewhere that sells them cheap. Cap'n gave us way too much money anyway."

A voice came on the intercom. Olivia listened. The voice told them that there was usually little precipitation in Siberia, but that a very extreme blizzard had occured just a day before. She assured them that "the blizzard that occured yesterday is a very rare one," and that "although it is always in the negative-degree weather in Russia, there usually is not enough precipitation to form this much snow. The temperature right now is -26 degrees Farenheit. Tonight it will drop to -42 degrees."

They were quiet for a minute and then they landed. They got off the plane, Olivia carrying her carry-on suitcase and her purse, Elliot carrying his carry-on. When they got out, they immediately stepped into snow that had to have been at least a foot deep. Olivia and Elliot both sunk into the ground. Olivia regretted wearing good boots. She shivered. Elliot did too. They trudged through the snow, their teeth chattering, until reached the building that had seemed miles away.


	3. The Hotel

**AN: Sorry about the shorter chapter...I just want to update more often even if it _is_ in smaller chapters. I just don't want to leave anybody hanging too long! Hope everybody's liking it so far! I know you want E/O, but...I have to keep them in character! :)**

They walked into the building and went towards the area to pick up their suitcases. Olivia's came out first. While Elliot was waiting for his, she unzipped it and pulled out a black scarf, a black knit hat, and her expensive, black leather gloves. Elliot also pulled a hat and black gloves out of his bag and put them on. They were preparing for the cold. Olivia pulled out her cell phone. "I'm calling Cragen," she said, dialing his number. Too bad she found out seconds later that there wasn't any phone service. She walked up to a service desk with her suitcases, Elliot following behind her.

She said something in Russian that sounded like, "bdeeton tillifwanshwazhwuh." Russian was such a weird language. How could she speak it?

"I speak English. This is an airport, remember?" the lady at the desk spat. Olivia stared at her.

"Okay. Where is there phone service?"

"Not here," she answered.

Olivia stared at her. "Well, thank you. You've been a tremendous amount of help," Olivia said, glaring at the lady and walking away with Elliot following her.

"I guess we should get a car," he said.

"Yeah," Olivia agreed.

They walked out of the airport into the freezing snow.

"Why the hell did I agree to this?" Olivia asked herself aloud. They looked around helplessly.

"Maybe we can go back in and find the number for a car service," Elliot said.

"No, wait..." Olivia said, beginning to walk as quickly as she could through the snow towards the end of the building. When they got to the end of the building, they turned to the left and saw a few black cars, sitting in the snow. Olivia walked up to the window of one and banged on it. The driver rolled down his window and glanced at her through sunglasses. Who would need sunglasses if they lived here? Was this guy right in the head?

Olivia decided to first see if he spoke English. "Can you take us somewhere?" she asked.

Luckily, the guy looked like he understood. "I take you where you want. Money," he said. So his English wasn't too great. No big deal. At least he knew enough to communicate.

"Take us to the closest hotel in Omsk," Olivia said, and climbed into the back of the car. Elliot followed her and got in behind her.

Their teeth chattering, Olivia scooted closer to Elliot in hopes of warming him up. "I'm s-so cold-d," she said as he looked at her.

"Me too," he said.

"I wonder how people live here," Olivia said.

"Yeah-" Elliot was cut off by the driver.

"You need bigger coats. You have wrong kind. You need big. My coat," he said, pointing at his enormous parka.

"He's right," Elliot pointed out to Olivia.

"I know...maybe our hotel will sell some.."

"I doubt it," he said.

"I kind of do too," Olivia admitted.

They got quiet. After about another hour of riding in the car, the guy stopped. How could it take this long to get to the _closest_ hotel? Olivia looked out the window and saw nothing but snow.

"Where are we? I thought you were taking us to a hotel in Omsk," she said.

"No, no, Omsk way too far. Road end here. Hotel here if you walk more mile," the driver explained in his thick accent.

"What? Walk? We can't walk," Olivia protested.

"You have to. Road gone."

"How many miles?"

"Two," the driver said.

"We can't just walk with our big suitcases and everything," Elliot chimed in.

"Money," the guy demanded.

Olivia pulled out forty dollars and handed it to him.

"Out my car. Now."

"What? No, wait, please, just drive," Olivia begged desperately.

"No drive. Road gone. Out my car," he spat. He was obviously angry now.

Olivia reluctantly pushed open the car door and got out. Elliot was out behind her. The guy got out of his seat too, to open the trunk for them. They walked over to the trunk, pulled out their suitcases, and began to walk. The driver instantly sped away, making a loud noise as he left. Both Elliot's and Olivia's eyes were already watering, their teeth already chattering, goosebumps already forming, shivers already running through their freezing cold bodies. Olivia noticed that it had begun to snow again. Hard. And it was very windy, too. A blizzard.

As they trudged on in the snow, Olivia felt as if the wind would knock her over.

After a painful, twenty-minute walk, they finally found a hotel. This hotel was not exactly fancy. Was this like the ghetto part of Russia? The hotel-or motel, actually-was very small, with outside rooms that looked like apartments. There were three rooms on the bottom, three rooms on the top, and a little room beside the bottom story for registering, obviously. The place looked very old, and it was a green color that made Olivia think of hospitals, old people, and soap.

They walked into the office to check in. Olivia walked up to the desk and spoke in Russian. Once again, this woman knew English. She probably had to because she worked at a hotel.

"We don't have any rooms with two beds open. Sorry," she said.

It wasn't too hard to believe. The place only had six rooms anyway. "The beds can be any size," Olivia said.

"We don't have any rooms with more than one bed of _any_ size. We have one room left and it's got one bed."

Olivia looked at Elliot. "You want to find somewhere else?" she asked.

Elliot was still shivering. He looked out the window at the snow. "No...nobody can pick us up because the road's covered. I don't know where we'd go...you can sleep in the bath tub," he joked.

Olivia chuckled. "Or you could have it," she said, handing the woman at the desk $70. The woman stared at the money intently. Then she looked up at Olivia as if she were a mental case.

"We don't accept dollars," she said. "I need roubles," she said.

Olivia glared at her. Damn it. She'd forgotten to exchange the money for roubles. "Look, if I give you extra, can you please just take it for the night? I'm Detective Benson, this is my partner Detective Stabler. We're here to work a case and we need somewhere to stay. I'm sure there's somewhere you can exchange it," she said.

The woman looked at her for a very long time. Finally, she said, "Here's your room keys," and handed them two cards.

"Thank you," Olivia said, relieved.

They walked back outside into the freezing wind and sunk into the snow. Olivia shivered and her teeth chattered loudly. She tried to stop it, but it was too loud. Elliot heard her teeth loud and clear.

"I thought New York was bad," he said as they began to haul their suitcases up the stairs to a hotel room. When they had finally reached it, Olivia looked around. What a piece of crap hotel. Wasn't there anything better than this close to the airport? Didn't Americans travel to Siberia occasionally? What did they do when they came here? The room was painted a gray-blue color that could only be described as depressing. There was one queen-sized bed in the middle of the small room, with a single, old-looking, shitty nightstand with an old-woman-style green lamp sitting on it. The comforter on the bed was a peach color and at least large, but with how incredibly cold it was in that room, it probably had to be to keep visitors from getting hypothermia. Was there even electric heating? Olivia walked further into the bedroom and saw a bathroom. She slung open the wooden door keeping it hidden and saw that the bathroom was a little bit better than the room. Still not great, but better. It had a simple white toilet that at least looked clean, thank God for that, and a small shower/bath tub. Olivia walked back out of the bathroom and looked at Elliot, a look of exasperation and exhaustion on her face.

"It's only one night, Liv."

"Yeah."

**AN: I'm going to try to update again soon! Leave me reviews please, it will make me work harder! :)**


	4. Bedtime

**AN: There's going to be a little more E/O in this chapter...I'm easing my way through it. Don't worry, it'll get full-blown eventually. It just may be a little while. But this is going to be a better chapter, I promise! **

"You really want me in the bath tub?" Elliot asked with a hint of humor in his voice as he dug a pair of pajama pants out of his suitcase. He was half-serious though, because he wasn't sure how Olivia would feel about sharing a bed with him for the night.

Olivia walked over to where he was standing and began to pull her pajamas out too. "Yeah, Elliot, because I'd really make you sleep in the bath tub."

He laughed and walked over to the bathroom. He went in for a second and came out without a shirt and with navy pajama pants on. He must have been freezing.

"You're gonna be cold..."

"Nah.." he said as he climbed in bed.

Olivia, confused and scared he'd get mad if she got in bed with him, just kind of stood in front of the bed for a minute. Elliot looked at her.

"What?"

"This is wrong on so many levels," she said, putting away her dirty clothes in a laundry bag.

"Oh, come on, Liv. I'm not even with Kathy anymore. It's not like we're doing the dirty, okay? We're stuck in Siberia with only one bed and have I mentioned it's -26 degrees?" Elliot looked at her back as she said all this. She was turned away, folding a pair of pants that had fallen out of her bag.

"All right," she sighed.

She put the pants up and turned out the lights. Not very modest around Elliot and also knowing that he couldn't see her very well because it was dark in the room other than a dim light coming from the bathroom, Olivia pulled off her clothes, folded them and put them into a laundry bag, and then finally slipped into her pajamas-a black camisole that was super soft, and a pair of sweat pants that extended to her knees. Then she walked over to the bathroom and closed the door to it. She left the light on, though, because she wanted to be able to see the restroom in case she had to go in the middle of the night. Then she walked through the darkness and climbed into bed with Elliot. This had to be the strangest thing she'd ever done. She settled in on her back. She noticed that Elliot was on his back too, his right arm and right leg against hers, their heads not very far apart. They were laying in a poise that made them look like they were gazing at stars, although all that was above them was a black ceiling.

"You should really be more careful," Elliot said, a tiny bit of humor evident in his voice.

"What?" Olivia was confused.

"You think I didn't just see you half-naked?" he asked, turning his head and looking at her jaw. She didn't turn to look at him. She just glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

"It's dark."

"Not quite dark enough," he said.

"Well I don't give a shit," she said with a light laugh.

"Why not?"

She was quiet a minute. "Because...you've seen me like that before anyway and I'm sleeping with you...we've pretty much broken all the rules, so what does it matter?"

Elliot chuckled. They were quiet for a minute. "Hot bod," Elliot said finally.

Olivia didn't respond quickly to that one. She turned to look at him. He returned her look. "What?"

"You heard me."

"I don't think I heard right," Olivia said, shivering from the freezing cold.

"You did. Are you still cold?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Aren't you?"

"Kind of."

Everything was silent for a minute. She shivered again, very obtrusively. She tried not to make it noticable, but it was.

Elliot kind of wanted to wrap his arms around her to give her warmth, although he knew she'd misconstrue it as an act of...lust. Was it an act of lust? Maybe it was. He wasn't quite sure. Instead of doing what he wanted to do, he just scooted closer to her to give off-and take in-more body heat. He was pretty cold himself.

"You really just don't see it, do you?" he asked, referring to how beautiful she was. He found it kind of amusing, though, because she very obviously had no idea she was even the least bit pretty. But she _was._ She was not pretty, but _beautiful_.

"Hm?" Olivia grunted, confused.

He couldn't have this conversation with her. It was too awkward. Although, she had said it herself, they'd already broken all the rules...

"Nothing, nevermind," Elliot answered.

"No, what were you talking about? You seem random, El."

Nah, he wasn't random at all. She just didn't understand what he'd meant when he said that. "I'm not random," he said, trying to get her off the subject so she wouldn't badger him about knowing what he'd meant.

"Okay, but you're not off the hook. You'll tell me some time," she said, wiping away the relief that had just filled Elliot's body.

"All right," he replied.

They were quiet for a moment.

Finally Olivia spoke. "So, how do you think we'll get to Omsk by tomorrow if there's not any taxis around here?"

"Hell if I know..." he said. "The population of wherever the heck we are must be pretty small if there's no roads or buses."

"Buses? We didn't make sure there weren't any subways..." Olivia said.

"As far as I could see, everything was just snow. Other than this hotel, I didn't see any signs of civilization."

"So I guess that means we'll be walking around aimlessly until we find trasportation...?"

"I guess so," Elliot said.

Olivia yawned. "Cragen better let us keep the leftover money after this crap he's putting us through."

"No kidding. This is B.S.," Elliot responded.

Olivia sighed. "Well, at least I get to be with you and not stuck with Fin. Or Munch. You were in Quantico way too long."

"I wanted to come back, but I had to finish or I wouldn't get the credits...Was Fin really that bad?"

"No. I just...don't feel safe with him," she said, flipping onto her side to face him. He was on his side as well so their faces were only inches apart. Despite the darkness, their eyes had adgusted so they could see each other decently.

Elliot's eyebrows furrowed. "Why not?"

"He...isn't you."

Now his eyebrows raised.

"He, uh...he doesn't know me as well. He can't predict my actions like you do, he can't interrogate with me like you do, he can't go undercover with me like you. He doesn't care about me as much as you do," she said.

He officially wanted to kiss her right then and there. But he didn't, of course. He knew it was wrong and if he did kiss her, he'd regret it the next day. She was his partner. "Oh, how can you be so sure about that?" he joked.

"Well, should I be?"

He paused and laughed quietly. Then he reached out and put his hand on her neck. "Of course. Definitely."

It had only been about 6 p.m. when they'd climbed into bed, feeling tired and not knowing what else to do, but of course, it had been dark already because of the horrible weather. They'd been talking for nearly two hours now.

"Good," Olivia said. "But how did you like working with somebody else?"

"Hm?" Elliot didn't understand.

"You know, when Dani was your partner. Did you like it?"

He thought for a minute. "No. She was too whiny. She wasn't tough, like you. She couldn't take it. She was obnoxious at times. I couldn't rely on her for anything, which was pretty weird because I rely on you for so much. And she wasn't too bright, either. She didn't understand me like you do," he said. He felt justified for his sappy explanation because she'd just done the same thing.

"That bad?"

"Well, I mean...she wasn't a bad person overall, she just wasn't a good detective and she wasn't fit for me at all. There's just little things about you that I can't find in anyone else. You bring me coffee every morning because you know I like it and I need it. You know what kind to get me, what size, you know what I'll eat for breakfast and what I won't. You know that I'm not the fastest typer and occasionally you'll type up my DD-5s...You were the first person to ever hold my son, you're the one who _saved_ my son, and his mom," Elliot said.

They were being so open tonight. It was weird. Ever since Sonya had been killed and Elliot had comforted Olivia during her emotional ordeal, they had been on an open wave. They talked about everything, they were better friends.

"About Kathy...why did you guys split again?" Olivia asked. She knew that asking him that question was a risk, but he was obviously in a particularly revealing mood tonight, so why not? She wanted to know why somebody would give up Elliot. He'd told her that Kathy was sick of his job, but that couldn't be the only reason, could it?

Elliot didn't answer. Thinking that he was just pausing and contemplating what to say, Olivia waited. But he didn't say anything. After a few minutes of silence, Olivia said, "God - I'm sorry, Elliot. I shouldn't have asked that," she said. She paused, then continued. "I was...I was just wondering why anybody would leave somebody like _you._"

Elliot laughed. "Relax, Liv. I was just deciding what I should tell you." He paused. "Somebody like me?" he asked, looking at her.

Olivia felt stupid now because she'd only said that because she didn't want him to be mad at her. Yeah, she really was wondering why somebody would leave somebody as wonderful as Elliot, but she'd never have told him that if she hadn't thought he was upset with her. "Nevermind," she said, grinning.

"Okay, I'll let it slide. But you're not off the hook. You'll tell me some time," he repeated her words.

"Very funny," Olivia said, "But why were you deciding what you should tell me? Why don't you just tell me the truth?" Olivia asked, turning serious again. "It's not like I'll judge you..."

He was quiet a minute, rubbing his neck. "I know you won't."

She stared at him expectantly.

"She's not leaving me. I'm leaving her," he said.

Olivia looked surprised. Her eyes widened a little, her prominent, defined cheekbones moving down.

"I..." he shut his mouth for a minute and looked up at the ceiling. "...Caught her with someone else," he said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. Now he wasn't looking at Olivia. Was he tearing up? Olivia could tell that he kind of was, but she wasn't going to say anything to let him know that. He liked being tough, so she'd let him maintain that pride. He had caught Kathy with somebody else? _How_ had he caught her? _Why_ would she do such a thing? _How_ could she do such a thing?

"Elliot..."

"In our own bed," he said, gritting his teeth.

Olivia couldn't help it anymore. She simply couldn't resist. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into an embrace that she hoped would let him know he was not alone. "She's crazy," Olivia started. Olivia wanted to talk about how much of a bitch Kathy was for doing this to him, how wrong she was. But she didn't say thie things she wanted to say, because she knew that it would only make things worse for Elliot.

After a minute of hugging Elliot while he did everything in his power to keep his tears from escaping and was actually successful, Olivia let him go gently. She stared at him sympathetically for a minute. "Why don't we go to bed now?" Olivia suggested.

Elliot nodded. "Night, Liv. Thanks."

"Good night," she said, smiling and rolling over.

Luckily for her, Elliot had no idea that she wasn't actually tired at all and she wasn't going to sleep. No, she was just waiting for _Elliot_ to go to sleep. Waiting until he was asleep so she could talk to that bitch of an ex-wife of his.

**AN: So, what do you think? I'm hoping I'm getting the hang of the whole end-chapters-with-a-dramatic-hook thing! I'm not going to continue if I don't get any reviews so please leave some! I like to feel like I'm writing for a purpose and reviews assure me of that! :)**


	5. Kathy Learns A Lesson

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything...just makin' that clear...**

**AN: So I finally put some E/O in...it's not a whole lot, but it's enough to hold you over. I have to keep it realistic, remember? :) I'm just going to give you a fair warning that the next two chapters or so will not be very interesting, and I hate that, but I have to put them in. They are very, _very_ crucial to the story. But don't worry, they will lead to something better... :) And I'm really sorry about the short chapter, but I thought that it ended pretty well and I was happy with where I left the characters. **

Olivia layed with her eyes wide open until she heard Elliot's breathing become steady and she knew he was asleep. She stared at his handsome figure. He was so...oh, just so good-looking. And so kind, and helpful, and...perfect. How could somebody ever betray him like Kathy had? Olivia knew she'd never have cheated on him if they were together. Then a thought ran through Olivia's mind: _I wish we were together_. She realized now that she would love to have Elliot as something more in her life than a partner and a friend. She wished she could sleep with him every night, be the one to comfort him when he came home.

She waited a few extra minutes, just to be sure Elliot was asleep, and then carefully climbed out of bed. She made her way through the darkness to the night stand and grabbed both her and Elliot's phones. She threw on her big jacket, pulled on some fur boots, and left the hotel room. As soon as she was outside, she realized that she had forgotten to make sure she'd shut the door _quietly_. Figuring Elliot would go back to sleep if she'd awoken him, Olivia walked through the freezing wind and the snow down the stairs and out into the deserted area. Everything was so dark. It was depressing. Just thinking about Elliot, the way Kathy had betrayed him, and standing there in the cold, staring at a land of terrifyingly thick snow, Olivia felt horrible. She looked through Elliot's contacts on his phone and then saw Kathy's number. She dialed it in her phone and listened to it ring. It rang four times and then went to voicemail. She waited a minute, looking through the snow, feeling like crying. She wasn't about to give up, though. She called again. On the third ring, Kathy finally picked up.

"Hello?" she asked, fatigue evident in her voice. It was about six hours later in Manhattan.

"How could you do this to Elliot?" Olivia blurted with rage.

"Olivia?" Kathy seemed confused.

"No, it's your boyfriend that you cheated on Elliot with!" Olivia yelled sarcastically, hoping she didn't wake up any angry Russians. Or Elliot.

"This isn't any of your business-"

"Don't pull this bull shit with me, Kathy! I'm not quite as nice as Elliot, you got that?"

"You don't even know what happened, Olivia. This has nothing to do with you," her voice spat through the phone.

"What kind of mental case _are_ you? How could you do this? All Elliot ever tries to do is please you and his kids!" Olivia was losing it. She thought she heard a noise, but she really didn't care. She was busy exploding at the lunatic who had ruined Elliot's life. Well, almost, anyway.

"Look, he was never home! I can't just sit around miserably and wait for him to get home at eleven every night. I need love in my life and it became too difficult to resist-"

Olivia cut Kathy off. "Then you should have said something! He would have tried harder, he would have made sure he made it home earlier to please you because he loved you! You and those kids were his everything a-and you just decided that since he wasn't home enough-only because he was busy _helping people_-that it would be all right if you _slept_ with somebody else? You could have at least warned him, given him a chance to change his schedule so he could fit you in. I know he would have found time for you because you were so important to him! He cared about you that much, he was willing to sacrifice so much for you, and for what? So you could betray him like you did? So you could sleep with another man in his own bed? _What_ is wrong with you?" Olivia screamed. Now she was crying, and her whole body was shaking with every raging word that tumbled out of her mouth. Why was she shaking because of Elliot's family problems? Olivia thought it was pathetic that she cared this much, but she did. She couldn't help it.

Kathy didn't say anything. Olivia heard her breathe into the phone, but she didn't say a word. Maybe she'd learned a lesson.

Then Olivia felt a hand on her shoulder. A gentle, familiar hand. Elliot. Shoot. Had she woken him up?

"Liv..." He was quiet, feeble.

First, Olivia stared at him with surprise. She wished he hadn't heard her out here. She probably seemed crazy. "I'm not finished, Elliot," Olivia replied, wiping a tear from her cheek and walking away from his grasp. "You're lucky Elliot's such a good person, Kathy. Because if I had caught you cheating on him, you'd be _dead_," Olivia said. Satisfied with her final statement, Olivia pushed the red 'end' button. She stared at the phone for a minute. She wiped away the remaining tears and composed herself. She handed Elliot his phone and started back towards the hotel room, trudging up the stairs without a word. Elliot followed behind her, surprised by how upset she'd gotten over _his_ problems. She was more upset than he was!

Elliot walked in the room and saw that Olivia wasn't in there. She was in the bathroom. She wasn't in there very long, though. She came out a minute later and was greeted by Elliot pulling her into an embrace.

"You don't have to deal with this, Liv," he said.

"I _want_ to," she replied. "What she did is unjustifiable but at least I can make her feel like shit for it," she said, chuckling bitterly.

"I think it worked," he said.

"Oh, I _know_ it worked," she corrected.

Elliot finally let go of her. They both sat down on the bed, shivering from the cold. The lamp on the bedside table was on, but it was a dim, almost-out light. The room was yellow because of it.

Elliot now realized what a great person she was. She cared so much about him, and it was obvious. She was going to set Kathy straight, make her feel bad, and not take any credit for it even though she had made _herself_ feel horrible in the process. It made his heart feel odd. His body felt different, and his heart was thumping in his chest like a strong beast, trying to fight its way out. What was this? Love? Maybe. But not _that_ kind of love...right...? He wanted to explain to her that he loved how much she cared, and he loved the way he could rely on her, and the way she took care of him and she was there for him...but that would seem like he was confessing his love to her, and he didn't want it to sound like that. Did he have love for her? A friend love, definitely. But a different kind of love? He wasn't sure.

"Why are you so upset?" he asked gently, although the question still didn't come out the way he'd wanted it to. "_I'm _fine," he said.

"I don't know. I just...felt bad for you, and...maybe this whole stuck-in-siberia thing doesn't really help," she said, laughing.

"I would think not," he agreed, rubbing her back gently.

Olivia yawned.

"Tired?"

"Yeah, I am now," she said, smiling at him.

"Me too," he said.

He turned out the lights and they laid down. They were quiet for a minute.

"Elliot, no matter what, I wouldn't have ever cheated on you if we were together," Olivia said. It just kind of came out. She kind of regretted saying it, but it needed to be said. She needed to assure him of that.

Elliot stroked her arm gently. "I know you wouldn't have. You're a better person than Kathy," he said.

Things were silent for a while, but when Olivia was almost asleep but still concious, she heard Elliot's voice whispering in her ear.

"You're the most beautiful, amazing person I've ever met." Then he kissed her jaw right below her ear and slowly laid back down. He rolled over on his side so their backs were to each other.

Had he really just said that? Did he think she was beautiful? She _wasn't_ beautiful, was she? And amazing? Not exactly, in her opinion. Olivia didn't know what to say so she didn't say anything at first. But after about five minutes of total silence, she had to say something before Elliot fell asleep completely.

"Really?"

His head twisted over to look at her first. Then he rolled his whole body over to face her. He reached out and put his thumb on her cheek. "Most definitely," he said.

She smiled, her self-esteem feeling higher than it ever had in her whole life. She had renewed confidence, her heart was lifted. "You are too, you know," she finally replied.

He gave her the same smile she had given him. She eventually shut her eyes, and so did he, and they drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

**AN: Review, review, review! :) Just warning you one more time, next two chapters won't be great but they're important!**


	6. Working The Case

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing! (sadly), *sniffle sniffle***

**AN: Okay, guys, I'm really sorry...I tried to make this part of the story interesting but it kind of ended up boring because of lack of E/O...but don't worry, it's going to lead to some awesome stuff, I promise. I got through it in one chapter though, at least! The next chapter will be much, much better! And shorter, I know, this is entirely too long! But I had to get it over with:) It's a very important part to the story so please read it even if you want to skip it! Thanks! :)**

Olivia woke up late the next morning, although Elliot was still asleep. It was 8:00, and Olivia had never felt so rested in her life. Yeah, she'd gone to bed early, but still...something about the way things had gone down with her, Elliot, and Kathy the night before had given her peace, a new determination she'd never known she had, and a comfort that she'd never felt before.

She rolled over, glanced at Elliot, and crawled out of bed. She needed to get in a shower, wash her face, and put on fresh make-up before he woke up. She walked over to her suitcase, pulled out her robe, face wash, razor, and make-up remover. Then she went into the bathroom and searched for a towel. She finally found one under the sink and set it down on the toilet.

After she was prepared for the day with fresh make-up and clean clothes on, she went to wake up Elliot, who was _still_ sleeping even though it was nearing 10 a.m.

"El, get up," she said, shaking his shoulder.

It didn't take him long to be up and heading towards the shower. After sleeping in such a cold room, taking a shower had been the best part of their morning. When Elliot came out fully clothed and clean, Olivia began to pack up her things neatly, Elliot doing the same. They both had on clothes that were fairly different from what they usually wore. Olivia had on a white turtle-neck sweater, dark jeans, tan fur boots that went up her calves, her big black coat, the same black knit hat she'd worn the day before, and a fuzzy tan-and-white scarf. She had fixed her hair with the curling iron she'd brought because she'd had so much extra time before Elliot was finally awake. Her brown curls were crushed against her cheeks underneath her hat.

Elliot had on jeans, which he hardly ever wore, a green button-down dress shirt like he actually wore to work all the time, his huge coat, and a hat. He finished packing up his stuff and they walked reluctantly out of the hotel room. When they got outside, they saw that it was no longer snowing, and the sun was shining, although it was still horribly freezing and the snow was just as deep as it had been the night before.

Olivia went into the service room beside the hotel.

"Do you have any maps?" she asked the lady behind the desk.

The lady started shuffling through a drawer behind the desk until she finally pulled out an old-looking map. Olivia took it from her. "Thanks," she said as she walked out of the room with Elliot following her.

"So where in Omsk was his last attack?"

"South. Omsk is a really small place. I'm surprised he didn't find somewhere bigger to attack," Elliot replied.

Olivia's eyes scanned the map. She saw that the 'You Are Here' dot was pretty far from Omsk. They were in Tyumen'. It would probably take at least three or four hours to get there when they found some _way_ to get there. "Well, we'll have to find some way to get to Omsk first. Then we can go to Katya's house and talk to her about her rape," Olivia suggested.

"Good idea."

Olivia looked at the map again. Her eyes landed on a tiny yellow dot that was supposed to signify a subway station. It was so close to the green 'You Are Here' dot that they were almost connected. Olivia was filled with relief. Maybe they wouldn't be walking so far in the snow after all.

"Look," she said, pointing at the dot, "That's a subway. We can get on there and take the bus until we're somewhere with...civilization," she said. "Maybe it will even take us all the way to Omsk if we stay on it," she said.

"I would think it should," Elliot said.

They marched through the snow until they found the subway that was on the map. Olivia was so relieved when she went in and felt a blast of heat. She'd been colder than she'd ever felt in her entire life. They looked around the subway. It was dull and desolate, unlike the ones in Manhattan. Everything was just gray concrete. No decorations, no colors. There were a few people in the station-a tiny old homeless man, a gothic teenage runaway, and a young woman that looked as though she'd have been pretty if she slept and took a shower. They all looked troubled. Olivia noticed that they looked like they belonged there because Tyumen' was a troubled place.

"So I guess we'll just get on the next one?" Olivia finally asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah," Elliot said. He had taken the case file out of his suitcase and was reading it. "Katya lives in Southern Omsk, down by the river."

Olivia stared at her map. "We're not exactly in Tyumen'. We're just outside of it, in the deserted area. This place isn't as bad as it seems like it is. That guy just chose the worst place to drop us off," Olivia said, referring to the guy who had taken them from the airport to the little area that they were in.

They heard the subway in the distance.

"Thank God," Olivia said, looking anxiously towards the black tunnel from which the bus was emanating. The subway kept going and it looked like it wasn't going to stop for them, but it did. The second the doors opened, Elliot and Olivia hopped in. Nobody was on the bus except a young blonde girl who looked like she would die from sleep deprivation if she didn't get in a bed soon. Fortunately, it was fairly warm in the subway. Almost as warm as it was outside in New York on a snowy day. Olivia chuckled at her mental joke and Elliot looked at her in amused confusion.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothin'," she said.

He let it go.

Olivia sat down in a red seat and Elliot sat in the one beside her. "You know, if he rapes another girl, we're not going to know about it unless she's as stubborn as Katya and she goes to Kazakhstan to report it," he said.

"I wonder if Cragen was right and he has assassins or...fellow rapists...hired," Olivia said.

"Well, considering that he's already raped fourteen girls in New York, it wouldn't be too hard to believe it if he does," Elliot replied.

"But he doesn't know we're here," Olivia pointed out.

Elliot squinted in thought. "He knows somebody's coming after him, and he knows it's somebody from SVU. He may know it's us, Liv."

"No, I don't think so. There's lots of cops in SVU. I don't think he knows which ones are in Russia chasing him," Olivia disagreed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Elliot said. "But you should be careful...because you know that if he does find out about us and come after us, I'm not the one he's going to rape," he pointed out quietly.

"I _know_, Elliot. I'm fine. I can protect myself," she said.

"And I'll protect you even better," he said, staring at a photo of the rapist, Dr. James Davidson.

Olivia smiled and looked at the picture too. "He's got to be a genius. He's gotten away with fourteen rapes, even though _we've_ got his case," Olivia said.

"What's that mean?"

"Well, face it, we're the best there is," she said, lightly nudging him. "And if we can't catch him nobody will. FBI could if they tried, but they don't care about a rapist on the loose. They'd laugh if we handed 'em the case."

"We'll get the guy. There's no way I'm going to give up on getting him after we've had to go through all this trouble."

"Hey, it hasn't been that bad. At least I got to piss of Kathy," she said.

"Good point," Elliot said, smiling a little.

After about three hours on that stupid, vacant bus, Elliot and Olivia arrived in southern Omsk. When they got out, they were both relieved at the increase of civilization from where they'd come. There were buildings everywhere with snowy roofs, and lots of people bustling around in their big coats. Olivia even thought she heard a few people speaking English. There were huge cathedrals that were bright colors-red and yellow, blue and green. They looked incredible. It actually began to kind of feel like they were on vacation. They went to another hotel close to Katya's house and dropped off their suitcases. They'd get a room later. Olivia secretly hoped that it only had one bed. She liked it that way. Was she feeling something for Elliot? Maybe. All she knew for sure was that she'd like to be closer to him...and that couldn't possibly happen from two separate beds. But would she ever speak up and tell Elliot that? Not any time soon!

As they were walking, Elliot pulled out the case file and began to read it.

"We have an address for her?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah. We can walk there from here," he said. "We're close."

"Okay," Olivia agreed.

Elliot led the way. They walked through snow that was a little less deep than the snow in Tyumen'. They strolled by people and turned corners around buildings and stopped and ate because they were incredibly hungry and hadn't gotten to eat when they were stranded in Tyumen'. Finally, after about thirty minutes of walking after they'd eaten, they arrived at a large, fancy apartment building.

"This is Katya's place?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, according to the case file," Elliot said.

They walked inside and went up to apartment 2B. Elliot knocked on the door and a young woman answered. She had long, dark-brown hair that was curled into ringlets, eyes that were so dark they were almost black, pale skin, and she was very tall and very thin. She was a few inches taller than Olivia, and Olivia was 5"8'.

"Are you Katya Petrov?" Olivia asked.

"Yes," she answered quickly, her voice deep and husky.

"We're here about your case," Olivia said.

Katya stepped aside and let them into her apartment. The apartment was very nice. She had glass windows and brand-new cherrywood furniture. There were decorated vases here and there with tulips and roses placed in them elegantly. On each of her cream-colored walls were pictures of her in all different clothes. She looked beautiful in the pictures, but she didn't look quite as beautiful standing there in front of them.

"I am a model," she said in a thick Russian accent when she noticed Olivia inspecting her pictures.

Olivia nodded. Katya also looked as though she had to be very rich. Even though she was doing nothing but sitting at home, Katya was decked out in a red dress that extended to her knees, silver high heels-with red on the bottom of them-, a big crystal hanging from a necklace around her neck, and amethyst earrings. Olivia wanted to ask, "How much was your apartment?" because in New York the apartment would have costed close to $1 million, but she didn't say anything.

"Why are you here? I already told the cops in Kazakhstan what happened to me. Besides, it is not like you cops in Russia care at all," she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"We, ah...aren't from here," Olivia said. Why hadn't Katya realized that they didn't have Russian accents? Maybe they hadn't spoken enough.

"We came from New York-" Elliot started.

"New York...? New York, U.S.?" Katya cut in.

"Yes," Elliot said. Olivia was glad the girl knew some geography. "We came here to catch the guy who hurt you," he continued.

"Why did you come all the way from U.S. to catch guy of my crime?" she asked. Her English was pretty good, but it had a few errors and her accent was very strong. In Russia, they learned a form of English that was more formal-the kind of English spoken in Britain, so Katya had a strong vocabulary, and her English was more...fancy.

"Because the guy we're looking for, his name is Dr. James Davidson, and he's raped fourteen other women in New York," Elliot finished explaining.

"Fourteen? Poor, unfortunate women," Katya replied, shaking her head.

"Yeah, and now the guy skipped bail and came to Russia," Olivia said.

"Skipped bail?"

She must not have understood their slang form of words.

"We had him, he was about to be put into prison. He went to a hearing and posted bail so he'd come back for the trial. But he didn't. Instead, he left his money there and came to Russia," Olivia said.

"Where he raped me," Katya finished, looking down, tears in her eyes.

"Yes," Olivia said.

Katya explained to them exactly what happened to her and where-at a party a few blocks from her apartment. Olivia had showed Katya the picture of James, and she'd said that he was definitely the man who had raped her. Katya told them the names of other people who were at the party when it happened and Elliot and Olivia went to talk to them. They didn't get any new information out of the first three people they talked to, but the last guy cracked their case wide open.

"Igor Ostrovsky?" Olivia asked, walking quickly to catch up with the guy ahead of her on the street. The guy turned around.

"Yes? Who are you?" he asked.

"Cops. We need to talk to you about an incident that occured the other night at a party you were at," Olivia said.

"Oh, yes, Katya told me about that. Poor girl, I shouldn't have left her alone, that was horrible of me," he said, huffing in anger with himself. Igor's Engilsh was much better than Katya's.

"Were you her date?"Olivia asked.

"Yes," he answered.

Olivia exhaled and her breath hung in the air. "I need you to tell me everything that happened that night, beginning to end," she said, pulling his arm and leading him to a bench, Elliot following behind.

He thought for a minute. "First we went inside...Katya had to go to the bathroom the second we walked in. She left and I went and sat down at the bar. A guy started talking to me...he said his name was...Boris, I think..." Igor started.

Olivia guessed that James had simply used a fake name.

"Boris started talking to me about how exhausting his new job was...I agreed with him. We kind of became friends. Such good friends, actually, that he said I could come to a special party of his, as long as I brought Katya with me-"

"I thought he hadn't met Katya," Elliot cut in.

"He did not meet Katya. He saw me walk in with her. He said I could go to his party if I brought Katya, he said it would be fun. But anyway, he doesn't really matter. Just a guy I talked to at the bar. Then I left the bar to find Katya. When I found her, I took her to meet Boris. But he was gone...I looked for him everywhere, but he wasn't there anymore," Igor said. He paused a minute and sighed. "A few hours later, Katya drank one too many and got sick. We decided to leave. When we got outside and Katya had thrown up, I insisted I take her home. But she said that it was okay, that I could go...God, how could I have been so ignorant?"

Igor hadn't quite gotten down the slang word for "ignorant"-stupid.

He continued, "So I just called her a car, made sure she was okay, and left. This morning, I called and invited her to the party. She said she'd been raped..."

Olivia stared at him. This guy was really stupid. Had he not suspected _something_ when James had been the only person he'd talked to at the bar, he'd asked about Katya, and Katya had been raped the next morning?

"Is this the man you spoke to at the bar?" Olivia asked, showing Igor the picture of James.

"Uh, yes. That's him...wait, did he rape Katya?" he exclaimed. This was really the first time that thought had occured to him?

"Yeah. He's from _New York_," Olivia spat. "How could you not tell that he was foreign, that he was dangerous?" Olivia usually didn't get too mad at people because of their intelligence quotient, but it kind of pissed her off when a girl got raped due to a man's stupidity.

"I...I told you, I was at the bar...drinking. I was intoxicated. Look, I'm sorry. I feel awful about it. I need to call Katya and tell her that we aren't going to that party after all," he said.

"Don't worry about it. We'll tell her. Stay away from "Boris"," Olivia said, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers.

They walked away from Igor, leaving him staring ahead, no doubt upset about not getting to go to his 'special party'.

"How could he be so stupid? How could he leave Katya alone after a complete stranger had been asking about her?" Olivia shouted as soon as they were out of Igor's hearing range.

"Well, Liv, he was wasted. He didn't know what he was doing, he wasn't in his right mind," Elliot defended Igor.

"Then he shouldn't have been drinking!" Olivia scoffed.

"He was at a bar. What did you expect him to do?"

"Not drink to the point of drunk when a foreign man was asking him questions about his defenseless, vulnerable date."

"He was already drunk when James was asking questions about Katya," Elliot pointed out.

Olivia stared at him angrily. Elliot shut his mouth. "Okay, enough about this. What are we going to do to get James?" she asked, changing the subject.

"We've got him. We could just go to the party and pick him up," Elliot said.

"But will there be guards and assassins?" Olivia asked. "Remember what Cragen said? I'm afraid we're going to get there and we're going to get the crap beat out of us by angry Russian body guards who don't give a shit whether we're cops or not," she said.

"You're right. He's managed to rape fourteen girls in a somewhat similar way as to how he raped Katya. We don't want to get into trouble...but we have guns," he said.

"I don't really think that matters. I don't know, I just...think that we should be more careful before barging in there and arresting him," Olivia said.

"Undercover?" he suggested.

"Maybe. We could just be a couple for his 'special party', just to get past the guards," Olivia said.

"Liv, I don't know...we aren't even sure that there will be any guards," Elliot said, unsure.

"Yeah, but if we get there in regular clothes and make ourselves known as cops, we could get some problems. There may not be guards, and it may be no big deal, but if there are guards and we aren't undercover, we're screwed. I say better safe than sorry," Olivia said as she hailed a taxi. Who knew they had so many taxis in Russia?

"Okay. Did you bring undercover clothes?" Elliot asked.

"Uh, yeah...but I didn't bring the kind of clothes we're going to have to wear for this," Olivia said.

"What do you think we're going to have to wear?"

"I'm not sure. But I know somebody we can talk to about it," Olivia said, throwing him a smile as she climbed into the taxi.

**AN: Next chapter will be better! Review! :)**


	7. Favor From Katya

**AN: Okay, guys, so I promised some more E/O to make this interesting, so...**

Olivia had told the taxi driver Katya's address and they were on the way there now.

"Hey, El?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to stop and get roubles...I wonder if this guy will accept dollars," Olivia whispered. At the subway station near their hotel, they'd gotten just enough roubles from a machine to pay for their ride and a little extra to pay for the lunch they'd eaten earlier because they hadn't had time to exchange all their money. But they needed to get that done soon.

Elliot leaned forward to talk to the guy. "Ah...we don't have roubles. We've only got American dollars," he said. "Could we please pay you in dollars? There's plenty of places around here to exchange them..." Elliot said. "And they're worth more roubles."

The guy looked at him. "Yes, yes, sure. I no care."

Oh, good, thank God they'd gotten a nice taxi driver. Before long, they'd pulled up on Katya's block. Olivia spotted a bank and said, "Stop here, please, this is fine," and paid the driver.

They got out and went to the bank and exchanged all their money. Once they were done, they made their way to Katya's house.

"You want to sit out on this one?" Olivia asked him.

"Nah, this should be fun," he replied, grinning.

They were going to Katya's house to find something for Olivia to wear. Katya had a body close to Olivia's, except she wasn't as curvy and she was a little taller, and thinner. But Elliot was betting that Olivia could still look hot in her clothes.

A few minutes later, Elliot looked away and Olivia saw something in his face. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothin'," he said, shaking it off, but still looking upset.

"Elliot, tell me," Olivia insisted.

He turned around and they stopped walking. There were few passersby on the street, so they were almost alone.

"It's just that..." he started, looking away. "It's my weekend with the kids, and I only get them once a month."

Olivia put her hand on his arm. "I'm sure Kathy will let you have them another weekend..."

"I don't know. She's been keeping them from me. She's seeing somebody else, and I'm scared that she's trying to turn them against me; replace me," he said. He looked really upset now, and he knew it, but he couldn't keep the look off of his face. At least he wasn't crying. He was glad to have somebody who cared. He wasn't sure what he'd do if Olivia wasn't there for him.

"She can't do that. Your kids love you too much and they're old enough to understand what Kathy's doing," Olivia stated. "_If_ she's trying to replace you," she said, rubbing his arm.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks," he said, beginning to walk again with her following.

They reached Katya's apartment and knocked. Katya answered, a little confused, but delighted to see them. Olivia and Katya had become pretty friendly with each other earlier that morning. Maybe that was why Olivia had been so mad at Igor.

"Olivia, Elliot...? Come in," she said.

"Katya, you can't go to that party tonight," Olivia blurted immediately.

"Why not?"

"Your rapist is the one _throwing_ the party," Elliot said.

Katya looked confused. "But...Igor said I would like the party, he said I would have fun. He said a nice person was throwing it," she said.

"He didn't know that the "nice person" throwing it was your rapist," Olivia said, making quotations in the air with her fingers.

"Oh. Well, are we going to catch him?"

"Yes. That's what we're here about. We've got to go undercover to get this guy, in case he's got guards at the party. To people here, our authority means nothing," Olivia said.

"You are going to say you are me?" Katya asked.

"Yeah, to get past security at the party. But do you have some clothes I can borrow for it?" Olivia asked.

Katya looked kind of excited...she looked much happier than she had earlier that morning when she'd been bawling and talking about her rape. She now looked happy that they were going to get her rapist. "Yes, of course," she said, leading Olivia into her bedroom. Elliot sat on the couch and stayed there.

"I will give you the type of clothing I wore last night. Igor said the guy liked it," Katya said, going into her huge walk-in closet.

Olivia noticed that her room was just as fancy as her living room. There were huge purple flowers in vases, plum-colored, silk bedding, with curtains to match.

Olivia chuckled to herself. _I'll bet he did like it_, she thought. Olivia walked in the closet behind Katya.

"I would show you what I wore, but he...ripped it," she said, looking down.

Olivia sighed sympathetically and squeezed Katya's shoulder. Katya began walking through, finding something for Olivia. She pulled out a red dress and some red high-heels that looked extremely expensive. Olivia thought for sure she would look bad in this. It was the type of thing that only prostitutes and models like Katya wore. The dress was a shiny, dark burgundy color and the design was so revealing that Olivia was sure she couldn't wear it. The dress was a halter with a tie in the back, and it was tight on the stomach section and extended out slightly below the waist. What scared Olivia was that there was a big gap in the middle of the fabric that was to cover her chest that had silver ties keeping it together. This gap went all the way down to just a little higher than the waist, so two separate parts were covering Olivia's chest. How was she supposed to wear this? How was she supposed to look _good_ in this?

"You can wear this. Russian men like this," Katya said in a seductive voice, her dark eyes flashing.

"Ah, Katya, I'm not so sure I'll fit in that," Olivia said quietly.

"You are not supposed to fit in it perfect. It is supposed to be smaller. It will be tight and look good," she insisted. Olivia could tell that Katya was having to think about speaking. Her English obviously didn't come naturally still, but it was good at least.

"I'm not so sure...I have a little bit bigger hips than you," Olivia said, not really wanting to wear the dress.

"No, no, that does not matter. This fits me. It will fit you smaller."

"I don't think I want it smaller," Olivia explained. "I don't think I'll look good in something smaller."

"We can let your partner be the judge of that," Katya said. "He stares at your body so much that he should know if it looks good on you," she chuckled.

Olivia was surprised. Did Elliot really 'stare at her body'? "What do you mean? He doesn't stare at my body," Olivia denied.

Katya looked at Olivia like she was a mental case. "Of course he stares at your body. I have already seen him do it a lot even though I have only seen you two a little."

Olivia stared at her. This was strange...but it kind of made Olivia happy. She dropped the subject though, because Katya pushed the dress and heels into her hands and led her to the bathroom.

"Now you try this on," Katya said.

"Okay, I will, but don't get Elliot. _I'll _decide whether or not it works," Olivia said.

Katya nodded and Olivia went into the bathroom. She pulled the dress over her body. The dress felt very tight around her torso but her thighs felt relieved. The dress extended to the tips of her knees. Her back was completely open; there were just a few straps above the waist that were clear, so they were unable to be seen, but they kept the dress up at least. Olivia looked at herself in the mirror. Very surprisingly, she kind of thought she looked okay. It wasn't really too bad of a look on her. But she couldn't know for sure. She pulled on the red heels and walked out of the bathroom. Her face instantly flushed when she saw Elliot sitting on the bed.

"Katya, I told you I didn't need _anybody's_ help," Olivia said, hinting at the fact that she didn't want Elliot in there, seeing her dressed like this.

Elliot thought Olivia looked more amazing than ever. Her bronze skin was shiny and smooth, even where her dress was split down the middle. He had to admit it to himself, even if he didn't want to think about Olivia in a sexual manner; she looked sexy. Very, _very_ sexy. But she'd have looked even better if she hadn't looked so unsure of herself. She really didn't realize how good she looked, did she?

"Are you sure this will work?" Olivia asked Katya.

Elliot answered for her, not wanting to never see Olivia in that dress again. "Yes. It will work," Elliot said. "Come on, you look awesome, it's only for undercover."

Olivia smiled a small smile and then went back to the bathroom and changed. She came back, bagged up the clothes, and left with Elliot, making sure to thank Katya.

"So do you want to play friendly with James until we're sure he hasn't got anybody dangerous hired? Or should we just use the undercover clothes to get past the guards and arrest him?" Olivia asked.

"We should make him think we're on his side. I'm afraid that we'll get there, get past security by using Katya's and Igor's names, arrest James, and then be unable to get out. I'd bet he's got at least a few assassins at the party," Elliot spoke.

"So we'll get there, try to get him drunk or something...and find a way to get him out of there willingly," Olivia said.

Elliot nodded in agreement.

They made their way to a store and bought Elliot a suit, which Olivia thought he looked very nice in. Next, they bought Olivia a black fur coat that would look okay with a dress like hers. She was still going to be freezing, no doubt, because the dress wasn't all that long, but the fur coat would help. Then they went back to the hotel to check in. Olivia dreaded finding out that there were plenty of rooms with two beds. She really hoped there weren't any.

"I need a room with one queen-sized bed," Elliot said to the lady at the check-in desk.

Had Olivia just heard that? Had he asked for a room with _one_ bed? Olivia couldn't allow Elliot to think this was amazingly perfect with her, though. She couldn't let him think that she'd wanted this. So she said, "Elliot, uh," hoping he'd get a hint.

He understood. "It's cheaper. This hotel is expensive, and I doubt they've got a whole lot of rooms with two beds." That was his excuse. He really just didn't want two beds, but he couldn't say that.

"Oh." Olivia seemed to believe it.

The woman at the desk gave them room keys for 200 roubles for two nights.

They walked through the huge yellow-walled lobby to the elevator. When the elevator came down, they climbed in with another guy. The guy looked homeless and trashy, like he'd never have enough money to afford to stay the night in a place like this. He stared at Olivia and made her not want to turn around because he was behind her, but she did anyway. She could almost feel his stare. She was glad she had her gun, of course, as usual. She hoped that the man had seen her gun and was scared.

The elevator reached the fourth floor of the hotel-Elliot and Olivia' s stop. They started to get out, but the guy grabbed Olivia's butt and squeezed it.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked angrily, flipping around and putting her hand on her gun. "I'm a cop!" she yelled.

He stared at her, then pressed the elevator button to go down. The door began to close and Olivia was halfway out of the elevator, so she was forced to leave it.

Elliot pressed the button to go back down.

"Elliot, no," Olivia said, pulling his hand down from the button. "He's not even worth it."

"We can't just let him get away with that," Elliot argued.

"What do you think we could do about it anyways? Talk to Russian authorities? Because if they don't do anything about rape, they won't do anything about sexual assault," Olivia said.

Elliot looked angry, kind of like a bull, with his head down. But he just sighed through his nose and looked back up. He nodded and they went to the hotel room. He was still pretty pissed about that guy grabbing Olivia, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it, so he just gave up. They looked around their fancy room. The walls were white, with pastel-colored paintings on the wall. The bed looked bigger than queen-sized for some reason, and it had a big white comforter on it along with a blue quilt. There was a microwave on top of a small refrigerator in a little tiled section of the room. The bathroom was very big, with a shower and bath tub that were separate, and a huge mirror and toilet, of course.

Olivia sat down on the bed. She had just remembered that she had some news to tell Elliot. Why she had forgotten about it was beyond her understanding. Elliot sat down beside her.

"Elliot, I've got to tell you something," she said quietly.

He stared at her seriously, because he knew that she was going to say something dreadful. "What?"

She looked down and then back up at him. "I...got a job offer in Pennsylvania," she said.

He looked hurt. "Well, you aren't going to take it, right?" he asked. He never wanted to believe she'd leave Manhattan for anything, but the way she spoke was making him second-guess that.

"I think I am, El. It...pays more," she breathed.

There was no way that was the only reason she might be leaving. Elliot knew she'd never leave him for money. _Him?_ When had he gotten the idea that she was solely with him, rather than the entire squad?

"Why else?" he asked. She couldn't leave. She couldn't. He knew they'd say they would keep in touch and they wouldn't. And he knew he couldn't stand being away from her very long. He needed her beside him every day.

"You know, since Sonya died, and Calvin was taken and everything, I just...I don't know if I want to stay there anymore," she admitted. She tried to look into his eyes, but the hurt she saw was amost unbearable.

"You'll get over all this, Liv, and then you'll regret leaving. What you saw happen to Sonya was awful, but you know that she wouldn't want you to quit. Going to Pennsylvania isn't going to help anything," he said. He hoped he was getting to her. Was she out of her mind? Of course she couldn't leave...right?

"I just...every time I pass the hall and see the ADA's office all I can think of is her," Olivia said. Calvin being taken away had bothered her badly, but at least she knew that he was with his grandparents and he was safe. What really, really hurt her was when Sonya had died.

"Liv, you can't leave because of that," he said.

"I'll think about it, Elliot," she acquitted, getting up and pulling her dress out of the plastic bag Katya had given her. Elliot didn't get to say anything else because Olivia went into the bathroom to change. He pulled out his black suit, feeling very weak and disoriented at the thought of Olivia leaving, and put it on. Olivia was in the bathroom a while. She put on the dress, yanked on the heels, and curled her hair quickly. She touched up on make-up, sprayed her hair with hair spray, and then walked out of the bathroom, not noticing the impressed, amazed look on Elliot's face when she came out.

"You ready to go?" she asked him.

He stared at her.

She ignored it and got the piece of paper with the address of the party out of her bag. "C'mon," she said.

Elliot crossed his arms over his chest. "No," he said.

Olivia looked up from the silver purse she was stuffing with items. "What?"

He walked up to her and grabbed one of her arms. Olivia made a surprised noise and looked at her arm in his grip, but didn't look hurt at all. "I'm not going anywhere until you promise me that you won't leave," he said.

"Elliot-"

"Promise me," he ordered firmly.

Olivia stared at him for the longest of moments, her eyes wide. She sighed, her eyelids fluttering a little. "I promise I won't leave you," she said.

Elliot thought she would have sounded fed up and impatient when she promised him she wouldn't leave. He thought she'd sound like she was just trying to get him to leave her alone so they could leave the hotel. But she'd actually sounded sincere. She'd sounded like she meant it, like she would never even think of leaving again. He took note of how she had said, 'I promise i won't leave _you_'. Did she feel the same way he did? That they were the main part of each other's jobs? He finally let her go gently and put his hand on her bare back.

Elliot leaned forward and kissed Olivia's cheek. It was something that he hadn't planned, something that was pretty risky. It had just sort of happened because Elliot wanted to give her some affection, and that was the first way to do so that came to his mind.

"That's good, because I couldn't work without you," he said.

She nodded, feeling unable to speak, and left the hotel room with him, pulling her black fur coat on over Elliot's hand.

******AN: So I know it**'s not exactly full-blown E/O yet, but just wait:) I keep getting kind of scared to post more 'cause I'm afraid that I've made some kind of stupid mistake or forgotten about something that happened earlier in the story and not associated it with the rest of the story... Please review and tell me if you liked it or if there's something you think I should change in the next chapter or whatever... :) 


	8. Catching James

**AN: Okay, so I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while...but at least I've got a pretty _long_ chapter to make up for it! I'm stuck at home alone with the flu, it really sucks, but at least I have a little time to write now. I've been so unbelievably busy! Ugh, and does anybody know if you're _supposed_ to have really crazy dreams when you're running fever? LOL. :) Well, here ya go...**

They took a taxi to the address of the party, Elliot inspecting every inch of Olivia the whole way there. Olivia, of course, did not notice this. She was way too busy thinking about what had happened earlier. She still kind of wanted to leave because of the hurt she felt over Sonya's death, but she knew she couldn't after she had seen that look in his eyes. He looked desperate. Desperate for her. She saw something in his eyes she hadn't seen but once in her entire life. The only time she'd seen it before was when Gitano had cut her neck and he'd thought she was going to die. He just had that look that said, _'Please don't leave me'_. It almost forced Olivia to agree, whether she'd wanted to or not. But she also knew that Elliot was partially right, and she couldn't leave a department she'd been at for 12 years because of the death of an ADA. She'd worked too hard to leave it all behind. And she could never leave Elliot. She'd realized that when she saw the desperation in his eyes.

The taxi finally arrived at the party, and Elliot and Olivia got out. Olivia pulled a twenty out of her purse-which also contained a gun-and handed it to the driver. Olivia got out and tried-successfully-not to stumble on her heels. Elliot took her arm and linked it in his, and then held her hand. They could definitely pass as a couple. Olivia walked with fake confidence, hoping not to look scared. In front of them was an extremely long driveway that connected to the busy street. It was the one driveway they'd seen the whole time they were in Russia that did not contain snow. Although the street was packed with people walking from one place to another, this driveway was so long that it led away from civilization. They walked farther and were soon in front of a gate, two guards standing at it, guns in their holsters, clipboards in their hands. They stared at Elliot and Olivia expectantly.

"We're here for the party," Olivia said. "Ja-"

"Boris invited us," Elliot said before Olivia was able to get out the name 'James'. Olivia looked at him with a look on her face that said, "Sorry, I forgot."

"Names?" the taller guard on the right asked.

"Katya Petrov and Igor Ostrovsky," Olivia said.

The tall guard went through some papers on his clipboard and then looked back at them. "Go ahead," he said, hitting a button that initialized the opening of the big black gate.

Olivia and Elliot walked in, the tall guard staring Olivia down menacingly. Elliot noticed this and slipped his hand underneath Olivia's coat and onto her bare back obtrusively so the guard would see it. Olivia was really liking this whole hand-on-the-bare-back thing that had been going on. She liked his touch against her skin. It was something rare that she loved but didn't get to feel very often.

They finally reached the house and were greeted by two more guards. Olivia was glad they'd decided to go undercover afterall, because they'd already be dead if they hadn't.

"Names, please," the guard requested.

"Katya Petrov and Igor Ostrovsky," Elliot said.

This man spotted their name on the first page of the list, and stepped aside to let them inside an enormous, two-story house that looked like a doll house with its yellow-painted shingles. They went inside and saw that the place was very large, with dark marble furniture and walls that were so darkly blood-red that they were two shades darker than Olivia's burgundy dress. They couldn't see things perfectly, though, because things were dark and there were just a few lamps in every enormous room. The room they were in was decorated with colored lights and lots of comfortable-looking seats everywhere. The place looked like a club, rather than a house. When Olivia looked up, she saw the upstairs level of the house; it was a huge square of a hallway above her head. Whose house was this? Not James', right? No way...he couldn't have bought this house within just a few weeks. So who let him invite people over?

As they walked further into the seemingly never-ending room, Elliot spotted more guards dressed in black, guns in their holsters, standing against the walls here and there. Olivia followed his gaze and also saw the guards. As she stared at them, they each looked back at her, inspecting her body. One tall guard with black hair stared at Olivia with piercing blue eyes. He held the stare for a long time and then looked down at her chest and licked his lips obstrusively, winking. Olivia, disgusted, led Elliot away from the area near the guard. Elliot had noticed the way the guard had been staring at her. It sickened him and made him mad.

"Pervert," Elliot commented, feeling protective of Olivia. He put a hand around her back and held on to her, hoping the guard saw that Olivia belonged to _him._ Not that she really did belong to him or anything, but he at least wanted the guard to think that so he'd back off. Olivia looked at him thankfully. But she dropped her smile for a minute and just gazed at him. He stared back at her beautiful face just as seriously, feeling drawn to her.

What Olivia did next was something Elliot had not expected her to do. She leaned forward and planted a soft, gentle kiss on his lips, and then pulled back. She stared at him for another second, and then turned her head away. She couldn't do this until they had somewhere to talk about it. This wasn't the right time, it just _wasn't_. She loved Elliot, she realized then, and she was willing to be with him and tell him that. But not here. Not now.

She walked away from Elliot, leaving him stunned. She found a guard and asked where the bathroom was, and then went and stood in there for a minute. When she came back out, she tried to forget what she'd done, but the look of desire on Elliot's face made it hard to do so.

"Let's see if we can find James," Olivia breathed.

Elliot stared at her another moment, and then looked around for a minute. "I don't see him," he said finally.

"Me neither. Let's find somebody and see who else is running this party," Olivia said.

Next thing Elliot knew, Olivia had given one guy a seductive look and asked him to come talk to her. Elliot stood by awkwardly, pretending he wasn't listening to them. He kind of wasn't. Instead he was thinking about that kiss Olivia had given him.

"So, who invited you to this party?" Olivia asked.

"My old pal Tyler. This is his house," the blonde-headed guy said. He looked close to their age, and Elliot didn't know how much longer he could stand watching Olivia talk to him like that. He had to remind himself constantly that she was not drawn to the guy and that she was only pretending to be.

"Where's Tyler?" Olivia asked, lifting her hair and flipping it behind her back, even though it wouldn't go down too far.

"He's over there talking to Boris," the guy said.

Olivia looked to where the guy was pointing and saw James, talking to another man who must have been Tyler. Olivia groaned and began to hold her stomach.

"Owhh...I think I may have had something bad to...bad to...e-eat," she faked, trying to get away from the guy without sounding rude. "I, uh, think I'm just going to..." she paused, rubbing her stomach and keeling over. "Go to the...the bathroom," she moaned.

The guy looked concerned. "Yes, of course. Would you like some assistance?" he asked.

"No, no, i-it's okay. Really," Olivia replied, walking away from him and into the crowd. Elliot followed behind her.

"Nice," he said.

"Thanks," Olivia said. "Let's go talk to James, become friendly with him. We can try to lour him away from here," she suggested.

Elliot nodded and they walked over to James, Elliot keeping his hand on her back. When they got to him, Tyler glanced at them, knowing they wanted to talk to James, and walked away.

"Hello," James said, acting like a polite man. Elliot and Olivia knew that he was far from that.

"Hi," Olivia said first. "This is a wonderful party you're throwing. Tyler invited us and we were so excited," Olivia beamed, trying to speak with an accent but kind of failing.

James laughed. "What is your name, miss?" he asked her, completely ignoring Elliot.

"Tatiana. And this is my friend Dmitri," Olivia said, pointing a finger at Elliot. He wondered where Olivia had pulled the fake names out of. He thought it was pretty interesting that she could just think of two common Russian names right off the bat. They probably didn't _really_ need to use fake names anyway, because they were pretty sure that nobody knew their names, but it was safer to use fake names just in case.

"Oh, good to meet you two. I'm Boris," he said, shaking Olivia's hand, and then reluctantly shaking Elliot's as well.

"Nice to meet you too," Olivia said, smiling in a way that only Elliot knew was completely false.

"I must say, Tatiana, that you look very amazing tonight. Are you and Dmitri...together?" he asked politely, raising an eyebrow.

Olivia looked over at Elliot. He didn't give her any hint as to what to say, so she said, "Um, no, not at all. Dmitri is a good friend. I couldn't go to a party date-less!" she exclaimed, laughing like the situation was acutally funny.

"Well, I'm not quite sure I understand how you could not find a date immediately, Tatiana. You look amazing," he said.

"Thanks," Olivia murmured.

"But I must say, your accent sounds very vague. Are you from here?" James asked.

"Yes, but my mother taught me English at a very young age. Her mom was from the U.S., so she didn't really have an accent, so I kind of learned English without an accent," Olivia said, hoping to cover her ass. "You really don't sound like you have much of an accent either, though," she said.

"Amazing, isn't it? I can just turn it off and on like a light switch," he joked, smiling a toothy, terrifying smile.

"Wow, that really is amazing, Boris," Olivia said. She noticed that Elliot was remaining quiet. He'd probably sensed that James didn't really want to hear from him.

"Thank you. Now, Tatiana, are you in a relationship?" he asked her.

He was obviously interested in her. Even Olivia, whose ego was the smallest Elliot had ever seen, could tell that James had the hots for her.

"Uh, no, not right now, I'm not." Olivia figured that if they couldn't arrest him tonight, maybe it would be safe to set up a date with him in isolation so she could definitely get him at some point.

"Well, you have _got_ to go on a date with me. I haven't seen a woman as beautiful as you in all of my years, Tatiana. How about meeting here, alone, sometime?" James asked.

Olivia looked around and squinted. "You know, Boris, I really would like if we went somewhere a little more...romantic. What do you say? Surprise me," she said.

James thought about this for a minute. Deciding it couldn't hurt, he said, "Okay. Sounds great. I will take you somewhere alone. Tomorrow night, maybe?" he asked.

"Sure," Olivia said. She was sure he was about to ask her where to pick her up, and she didn't have an answer for that question, so she continued to speak. "Maybe you could come see my new home tonight. Dmitri here hasn't seen it either, and I'm really proud of it. I'd like to show it to you two," she said.

James looked around. He was too smart for this, too careful. "Not tonight, Tatiana. I think we should just stay here," he said.

"Are you sure? Because I'd really like to show it to you. I mean, I've been _dying_ to show the place to somebody...I would really appreciate it if I felt like I had decorated the new house for a purpose," Olivia said, pretending to be discouraged.

"Not tonight," he snapped, showing a bit of his evil side.

"Oh. Okay. Well, I've got to go to the restroom. I'll be right back," Olivia said. She turned around to leave and gave Elliot a look that hinted that she wanted him to meet her there. He nodded a little and she left.

After about three minutes of Olivia having been gone, Elliot looked at James. He hoped he could pull off this whole Russian accent thing. What he kind of wondered was why everybody at this party spoke English when he and Olivia had talked to them in English. Even the guards had spoken English, and the guards didn't sound like they had an accent at all. Maybe they were from the U.S., like James. And Maybe everybody else really was trying to speak English better, like Olivia had said on the plane. Elliot did hear a few conversations that were in Russian, but he heard plenty in English as well.

"I'm going to go check on her. She's been a little sick tonight," Elliot said finally, walking away from James and going to the restroom. He met Olivia right outside the ladies' room.

"Well, that went great," Elliot said.

"Any ideas?" Olivia asked.

Elliot found himself looking down at her chest for the umpteenth time that night. Olivia didn't notice this. He finally snapped his head up, forcing himself to think. "Yeah," he said.

Olivia looked at him expectantly.

"You could pretend to get sick and have to go home. I'd leave...I mean, James would think I left, and you know what he'd want to do. He'd be in the same exact situation he was in with Katya. He'd definitely come after you. Then we'd bust him," Elliot said.

Olivia looked away for a minute. She shook her head. "I don't think that's a good idea," she disagreed.

Elliot understood what she was afraid of. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Liv, I'd be there the entire time. You know I wouldn't let anything happen to you," he said.

Olivia thought for a long moment. "Okay," she said finally, "But I shouldn't pretend I'm sick. That'll be exactly like what happened to Katya; it'll seem suspicious. I can say I got a call and my niece is in the hospital or something," she said.

She still had that unsure look on her face. Elliot kind of felt bad for pressuring her. "Hey, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. We can set up the date tomorrow and get him then if you want," he said.

Olivia shook her head. "No, it's okay. That would be the same thing, but just a day later. I'm ready to get through with this and go home," she admitted, rubbing a tired eye. "I'm sick of being here."

"Me too," Elliot agreed, rubbing her shoulder. He looked at the rainbow light fixture hanging from the ceiling for a second. "Let's do this," he said.

She handed Elliot her purse. "This has the gun in it," she said, swallowing a lumb of nervousness. She didn't know why she was nervous. Elliot would never let James hurt her.

Elliot nodded and took the purse from her. "You're safe, okay?" Elliot said.

"Yeah, I know. Let's go," she said, beginning to walk back through the crowd toward James.

When they got there, Olivia put a fake look of sadness on her face.

"What's wrong, Tatiana?" James asked.

"I just got a phone call from my mother. My niece was in a car accident, and she's in fatal condition in the hospital. I have to leave, Boris. I'm sorry. I'll meet you here tomorrow for that date," Olivia said.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Elliot asked, already knowing what her answer would be.

"No, stay, Dmitri. Have fun. It's okay. I'm going to go," Olivia said, waving good-bye and leaving.

James looked after her, and Elliot could practically see his brain working, thinking up a scheme to rape Olivia. "I'm going to go make sure she gets home all right," he said.

"Okay," Elliot said, watching as James left.

After James was about twenty feet ahead of him, Elliot began to follow him. He followed him out of the party, and down the drive. When they got outside of the gate, Elliot spotted Olivia between some trees standing on the right, far away from the guards, with big leaves in front of her figure, where they probably couldn't see her. Not that they'd probably care if James raped her, anyway. James saw Olivia too, and began walking towards her. Elliot followed. When he was close enough, Elliot hid behind a tree. James walked towards Olivia. Olivia's back was turned, so she didn't see him. He reached in front of her and put his hand over her mouth, and began to pull at the edges of her dress. But he didn't get a chance to rip her dress, because Elliot pulled the gun out from Olivia's purse and aimed it at James.

"Leave her alone!" Elliot yelled.

James turned around, saw the gun, and let go of Olivia. Olivia looked relieved. James surrendered.

"You're under arrest for the rape of Katya Petrov and the attempted rape of a police officer. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney; if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you," Elliot said, pulling some handcuffs around James' wrists and fastening them tightly.

Olivia routinely grabbed one of his arms, and Elliot held the other. Olivia hailed a taxi and they climbed in. Elliot immediately texted Cragen and asked him where to take James.

"Who are you people?" James asked angrily, frustrated that he was finally defeated.

"Detectives Benson and Stabler," Olivia answered in a tone that was much different from the one she'd spoken to James in when she was pretending to be Tatiana.

James looked pissed that he had been fooled by Olivia. He'd obviously been excited to get to rape her. Elliot received a text message from Cragen.

_From: Captain_

_ 11:27 p.m._

_ Take him to the Tsentralny Airport. Any taxi driver will know where that is. It's close to Katya's house. You and Liv stay an extra night. I'll send you tickets for a flight at 9:30 tomorrow morning. -P.S. I meant _your_ 9:30, in Russia, not here._

Elliot handed the phone to Olivia. The taxi driver, who had been waiting for an address to take them to for several minutes now, was getting impatient.

"We need you to take us to the Tsentralny Airport," Olivia said, wondering if she'd pronounced the name right. She had a feeling she hadn't, but the driver understood anyway. He turned around and began to drive away from the house. Olivia and Elliot both felt so relieved that they were ridding themselves of the 'bad guy'.

After they had made sure James had been put on the correct criminal flight to America, Elliot and Olivia went back to their hotel. It didn't take too long to get back there, because the airport hadn't really been too far. Elliot and Olivia both were acting so much happier since they'd had the weight of catching a serial rapist lifted off their shoulders. When they got back to their hotel, Olivia quickly changed into her pajamas into the bathroom, and Elliot changed into his in the room. Olivia came out, yawned, and put away her dress in the bag that Katya had given her. Elliot folded his suit and put it in his suitcase. Olivia was the first one in bed. She yawned again, but smiled at Elliot. He flipped off the light and crawled in bed with her.

"I'm so glad this is over with," Olivia said.

"Yeah, me too," Elliot agreed.

They were quiet for a long minute. "You kissed me," Elliot stated, reminding her of their moment.

Olivia sighed. "Yeah," she said.

"Were you serious?"

Olivia put her hand on Elliot's stomach, just below his chest. He shivered under her warm touch on his skin. "Let's not talk about this tonight, okay?" Olivia pleaded.

Olivia hadn't sounded like she was begging him not to talk about it, but Elliot could sense that little hint of desperation in her voice. He didn't want to push her or piss her off, even though he really wanted to know what she had meant when she'd kissed him.

"Okay," he said.

"Thanks," Olivia said, resting her head on his chest, her hair touching his chin, and gently wrapping her arms around his bare torso. Elliot didn't just allow this. He loved this. He put his hands on her back and hugged her close, taking in her intoxicating scent, feeling her soft, silky arms around his body, enjoying the rhythm of her breathing on his chest, and fell asleep.

**AN: I'm kind of scared I messed up or something...I really hope I didn't...Please, please review! I can't keep going if I don't know whether or not you liked it! A simple 'good' or 'bad' will do! I would really appreciate it! **


	9. Plane Ride Home

**AN: Thanks so much for all the reviews everybody left me! I'm really sorry this chapter is pretty short, but I hope y'all like it! :)**

Olivia woke up to her alarm, surprised that she had stayed in Elliot's arms the whole night. She turned off the alarm and then eased her way off of Elliot, pushing her hand down on his chest and pulling her legs off of him. Elliot sighed, stirring.

"Elliot," she said, rolling off of him. She patted his chest. "Wake up," she said. "We need to call Cragen and get home," Olivia said.

Elliot twisted his body around and grabbed her arm.

"Come on, El. Get up. We've got to go."

"Five minutes," he murmured sleepily.

"Five minutes will turn into ten, though," Olivia protested, "And ten will turn into twenty."

Elliot didn't get up.

Olivia layed back down beside him. She leaned up next to his ear and kissed it lightly. "Hey, El," she said, "Guess what?"

"Hm?" he grunted.

"If you don't wake up, we can't go home. If we don't go home, we'll never get to talk about last night."

Elliot's eyes were open and he was getting out of bed immediately. "I'm tired," he complained.

"Come on. You can sleep on the plane. Let's go," Olivia said, tossing clothes from the ground into her suitcase. She took a stack of clothes into the bathroom and changed into them. When she came back out, she was fully clothed in black work pants, black boots, a purple turtle-neck sweater, her big black coat, and a black scarf and hat. She was ready for the freezing. She was prepared. Because even though it was going to be cold and stormy and dull and even though she was in Russia with a bunch of Russians that she didn't know, she was going to be happy. She had Elliot beside her, and she wasn't tracking down a serial rapist. In fact, she had _caught_ the biggest threat in New York, with the help of Elliot, of course. But she'd caught him. The memory of shoving him into the taxi and seeing those beautiful silver handcuffs slapped around his wrists gave her an accomplished feeling. There was also the fact that she was going home to put her spirits up. She was going home, away from snow, away from the Russian language, away from hotels, suitcases, Russian perverts. She was going to go home, tell Elliot that she loved him, and she was going to say hi to Fin and Munch and listen to Munch talk about his conspiracy theories and how the Russian government sometimes interfered with the American governement's actions. She was so glad to get away from this place, this snowy, depressing place. It felt as if she'd been there a month, rather than four days.

Elliot had changed into a light blue dress shirt that made his eyes stick out, some black pants, and his black coat and hat. He looked like he always did at work. Olivia did too.

They gathered the rest of their stuff and left the hotel room. They walked through the snow with their huge suitcases.

"We've got to find somewhere that has wi-fi so we can check my email and print off the flight tickets," Olivia said.

"Check your email?"

"I meant that Cragen emailed me the tickets," Olivia elaborated.

"Oh. We could find a bakery or something," Elliot suggested.

"Yeah," Olivia said distractedly, looking around. She didn't see anything, so she started walking down the street and turned the corner. Elliot followed her. They finally spotted a little shop on the next corner. They went inside where they found some computers, printed off the plane tickets, bought two coffees, and left.

Three hours later, they found themselves boarding the plane, relieved to get away from the noise of the tons of people in the airport. Olivia sat down by the window and Elliot sat down beside her after they put their stuff up. Elliot looked especially good today, to Olivia, anyway. She hadn't seen him in a blue shirt that matched his eyes in four whole days. That was entirely too long when she was used to him wearnig a blue shirt every single day. _Geez, I'm obsessing, aren't I?_ she thought.

Once they were settled and the plane was in the air, Elliot immediately fell asleep. He obviously couldn't handle waking up at 6:00 a.m. in Russia. Olivia fell asleep soon after, again resting her head on Elliot's shoulder.

When Elliot woke up, he reached into the pocket of Olivia's purse, hoping not to awaken her by moving her head on his shoulder. He pulled out her phone and checked the time. It was 4:30 p.m. Wow. They'd been asleep on the plane for seven hours. That meant that there was only about two more hours on the plane. Thank God. He was so ready to get home. He was certain that once they were home, he could go to Olivia's place and help her unpack, and then she could tell him what she'd been thinking when she kissed him. He hoped that she felt the way he did, because he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep his love for her concealed in his cage of a heart. He wasn't sure when he'd decided he was in love with her. Just recently he had actually decided that. He'd always _loved_ her, but he had just realized that he was actually _in_ love with her. When she'd kissed him, he felt something that he never had felt with Kathy, even when they'd first met and he was sure they were in love. Olivia was different. Not only was he in love with her, but he couldn't stop thinking about her. When he'd been married to Kathy, she'd crossed his mind about five or six times a day. Olivia was always in his mind. _Always_. She dominated his thoughts all day every day. Every day he wondered if she was seeing somebody, if she was completely safe, if she thought of him as more than a friend, and about a million other random thoughts associated with her.

Olivia's head moving on Elliot's shoulder stirred him from his thoughts. He looked down at her. Her eyelids fluttered with the grace of a butterfly, and then worked their way open. She lifted her head off of his shoulder.

"How much longer?"

"About two hours," he answered.

"Wow, I've been asleep awhile. When did you wake up?"

"Not too long ago."

Olivia nodded and took a sip of her Dr. Pepper. "I'm so glad we're going home," she said.

"Yeah, me too. I'm not sure how much more snow I can handle," Elliot replied.

Olivia chuckled and shook her head. "Watch us get to New York and it be snowing."

"God, I hope not," Elliot said.

For one strange moment, Olivia wondered if anybody got on a plane and just confessed their long love for their partner and began to kiss them even if everybody was looking at them. She decided that nobody did that, and she wasn't going to be the first. Olivia tried not to laugh at the image that popped into her head when she thought about doing this to Elliot, but it didn't work very well because she laughed so hard she almost snorted. She laughed especially hard when she pictured the old woman in front of them turning around in her seat and saying, "Get a room!" in her old granny voice.

Elliot looked over at her in surprise. "What?" he asked, looking amused as well.

"Nothing," Olivia answered.

Elliot was curious. "What's so funny?"

Olivia looked at him. It really just made her laugh harder. "_Nothing_." There were a lot of things she would tell Elliot, but this wasn't one of them.

"Uh-uh, no way. You can't laugh that hard and tell me nothing's funny."

"You don't need to know," Olivia protested.

"But I _want_ to know."

Olivia looked away. "Maybe you can find out later," she said, smiling but not laughing anymore.

Elliot knew she wouldn't tell him later, but he decided to drop it because he could tell that she wasn't going to tell him. But he did still wonder what she was thinking about, because she hardly ever laughed that hard. It was kind of a relief to hear laughter coming from her, because she was always so serious...But they'd been a little less serious about things lately, and their work had seemed a little bit more fun.

Finally, two hours later, they landed in Manhattan. When Olivia had seen the tons of buildings out the window of the plane, she felt like she was going to cry she was so happy. She also thought it was pathetic that she was so glad to be back in New York after only four days in Russia. She couldn't decide if she just really hated Russia, or if she just really loved New York. Maybe it was both.

They got out of the plane and went inside and got their suitcases. Once they were outside, they were both insanely relieved that there was no snow. They walked up to a taxi.

"You want me to go to your place to help you unpack?" Elliot asked as they put their suitcases in the trunk.

"Yeah, sure. That'd be great," Olivia replied.

They told the taxi driver Olivia's address and took off towards her apartment. On the way there, Olivia stared at all the buildings, so happy to be away from snow and angry Russians. Elliot thought about his kids. He hoped he could see them soon, if he could just get them from Kathy.

When they got to Olivia's apartment and carried her things up, Olivia began to feel really nervous because she wasn't quite sure how she was going to tell Elliot that she was in love with him.

**AN: Thanks for reading! Leave me some reviews, and I will make the next chapter awesome! XD**


	10. I Love You

**AN: Okay, guys, so I know that this chapter is super, super short, but it is the ending chapter...I mean, I'm sorry, but I **_**have**_** to wrap it up! I'm ready to write something new! **

Inside the apartment, Olivia set down her things and began to pace. Elliot thought she looked nervous. _Nervous_? This was _so_ not Olivia. He sat down on the couch, watching her pace. She had taken off her shoes and so her tan feet were mushing into the carpet with each step that she took.

She ran a hand through her hair.

"You wanted to talk, right?" Olivia said.

"Yeah, definitely. I want to know about...I want to know if you meant anything when you kissed me the other night or if that was just for undercover business," Elliot wondered aloud.

Olivia stopped pacing and sat down beside him.

"Elliot, if it was for undercover business, why would I kiss you when nobody was even around? Nobody was watching us."

Elliot stayed quiet, running a hand down his neck.

"I...made a mistake," Olivia said.

Elliot looked forward, trying not to let the horrible disappointment that hit him show. Those words coming from her mouth ripped his heart in half. She'd made a mistake? A _mistake_? No! She hadn't made a mistake! He searched his heart for the right words to say to her to get his point across.

"Really? I didn't think it was a mistake."

"I didn't make a mistake by kissing you. I made a mistake by _falling in love_ with you," Olivia said, shaking her head and looking down at her leg on the couch.

"In love with me?" Elliot repeated her words, his heart beating quickly and happily. He tried really hard not to let it show. Somehow, he managed to conceal his excitement. But he was so happy, it was almost surreal.

"Don't make me say it again. I'm not proud of it. It just happened. It was kind of hard to ignore, you know? You're always there, you always care about me when nobody else gives a shit. How am I supposed to _not_ fall in love with you? It's almost impossible. You're just...it's like you're perfect for me. I don't understand how you don't see it. Now I just feel stupid," Olivia confessed. She _did_ feel very stupid. But she also felt incredibly relieved to get it out.

Elliot was silent, processing everything she'd said. She wouldn't make eye contact with him, because she was obviously embarrassed. He finally spoke, laying his hand on her arm. "Don't feel stupid. I _do_ see it. I fell for you just as hard, if not harder," he admitted.

Olivia was silent a minute, and then she chuckled a little, finally looking up at him. She looked kind of like she was going to cry, because her eyes were glassy, but she definitely wasn't. She was way too tough for that.

"But you know what sucks? We can't do anything with this, Elliot. We'll lose our jobs," Olivia reminded him.

"No we won't. If we tell everybody at work, we can just get new partners. But we'll still be in the same unit. You can have Fin, I'll take Munch. They don't get along all that great anyway. Besides, we'd obviously still see each other all the time, I mean, if I came home to you every night..." Elliot said, his voice trailing off.

"We'd live together?"

Elliot stared at her. "You don't honestly think we should do the whole dating thing, right? I mean, I've only known you for twelve years."

Olivia laughed. "I guess you're right. So...we're...together?"

Elliot leaned in and kissed her passionately. It was a kiss that had been waiting for twelve very long, very stressful years. He pulled back slowly.

"Forever."

**AN: So, watcha think? I know that it's not exactly the usual I-love-you-Olivia-Benson-more-than-anything-in-the-world thing, but I thought it would sound a lot more realistic if I put it this way. I'm pretty happy with how I left the characters on this one, so unless I just get a ton of reviews saying that I shouldn't end it, then I'm almost certain that I'm going to change the story status to 'complete'. Thanks for reading! Please please please review and tell me if you like this ending! (: **


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